What is Long-Term Care?
Long-term care (LTC) includes a variety of services to support a person’s health and wellness goals by helping them to live with dignity and as safely as possible when they can no longer perform everyday activities on their own.
Licensed LTC homes provide 24-hour professional supervision and care in a protective, supportive environment for people who have complex care needs and can no longer be cared for in their own homes or in an assisted living residence.1
BC has information on 294 LTC homes; 109 are operated directly by a health authority and 185 are operated by a contractor with funding from the health authorities.2
The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmingly impacted LTC and assisted living homes in British Columbia, which have accounted for over 50% of all COVID-19 deaths in BC.2 There have been unintended safety events to the individuals living in LTC and assisted living homes with fewer physician visits, less contact with family and friends, decreased transfers to hospitals and increased antipsychotics usage.1
Together with our partners, Health Quality BC continues to pursue efforts to improve the quality of care for people living in LTC homes and the experience of providers and staff in BC. In August 2020, HQBC partnered with Healthcare Excellence Canada in their national program called LTC+: Acting on Pandemic Learning Together Program, which was launched to support improvements in care for people living and working in LTC and assisted living homes that were undergoing the pressures of the pandemic. The program has evolved over time and is now in its third iteration, providing ongoing supports for quality improvement in care homes across BC.
Thank you to the LTC Homes who participated in the Reimagining LTC Program and worked with Health Quality BC and Healthcare Excellence Canada on this important initiative.
Enhancing the quality of life of your residents by improving the appropriate use of antipsychotics (AUA) continues to be a high priority for our province and we will continue to focus on this area of care.
Click here if AUA is a priority for your care home and you want to work together in 2024!
HQBC will be offering coaching support and learning sessions starting in January.
Reimagining LTC (3.0): Enabling a Healthy Workforce to Provide Person-Centred Care (January 2023 – December 2023)
Past Programs
References
- Office of the Seniors Advocate. BC Long-Term Care and Assisted Living Directory 2022 Summary Report [Internet]. [cited January 20, 2023] Available from: https://www.seniorsadvocatebc.ca/app/uploads/sites/4/2022/10/OSA-LTCAL-Directory-Summary-Report-2022.pdf
- The Canadian Institute for Health Information. The Impact of COVID-19 on Long-Term Care in Canada: Focus on the First 6 Months. Ottawa, ON: CIHI; 2021. Available from: https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/impact-covid-19-long-term-care-canada-first-6-months-report-en.pdfs
