Resident and Family Engagement — One Year Later
Just over a year ago I wrote about the shift in Continuing Care towards greater engagement of residents and families in the delivery of care and how this shift has been reflected in Accreditation Standards, Continuing Care Health Services Standards and the Health Quality Council of Alberta Surveys. It was also at that time that Bill 22 (The Resident and Family Councils Act) received Royal Assent in the Alberta Legislature. Bill 22 acknowledges the crucial role of the resident and family voice on issues including food, programs and activities and requires all Continuing Care Operators to ensure Resident and Family Councils are established at each facility.
Significant work has been done at Bethany since Bill 22 was passed. We have developed policies and procedures for the establishment of Resident and Family Councils and I am pleased to say that we now have councils in place at each of our Care Centres with the exception of Bethany Riverview which is just getting established now six months after opening its doors.
Each Resident and Family Council looks a little bit different in terms of its structure and meeting frequency so that the unique issues at each site and in each community can be appropriately addressed. Some of these councils are chaired by residents and some by site leadership.
All of the Resident and Family Councils across Bethany are active, meet regularly and spend time addressing issues such as Food Services, Activities and Programming on site. In addition, our site leaders provide updates to the Councils on Audit results as well as staffing and programming changes across the organization. These forums provide a very critical venue for residents and families to ensure their voice is heard. Regular updates on the activities of the Resident and Family Councils are provided at each meeting of the Quality/Safety/Ethics Committee of the Board so the organization is aware of the concerns and issues facing residents and families.
In the summer of 2019, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) will be conducting a Resident and Family Experience Survey at some of our sites. Through this process, the HQCA collects feedback from residents and families and then produces a report with comparison data to the previous survey results so that Continuing Care Operators can use the information to support quality improvement efforts. Given the hard work that has been done at Bethany over the last year, I am hopeful that we will receive positive feedback from our residents and families.
This is very important work and all of us have an important role to play in engaging our residents and families as we live into our mission of Creating Care Communities.
As always, I welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have. Please send them to me at nancy.hughes@bethanyseniors.com.
Regards,
— Nancy
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