‘It’s fragmented’: British Columbia Seniors Advocate Office’s report suggests flaws in gathering senior abuse information

It’s unclear how many of those calls came from the Interior Region.

“With the way we collect our data right now, I’m not able to break that down and reliably say, ‘this is what is experienced in Interior Health, this is what is experienced in the Kamloops area.’” BC Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie said.

When someone calls to report senior abuse or self-neglect, the call could be received by an organization, who determines that the caller (who could be the vulnerable person or concerned friend) needs to contact a different organization.

The Seniors Advocate Office says callers are given so many phone numbers that often it leads to missed referrals or the caller opting not to call again. When a report of concern about one person is received by multiple organizations such as the police or a health authority, it results in disjointed information.

“It’s all broken into bits and pieces. It’s fragmented. Everybody has their different systems, everybody has their different definitions, everybody has their different data collection systems and they’re not talking to each other,” Mackenzie said.

On the other hand, Mackenzie said the private sector, such as licensed care homes, seem to offer robust and standardized documentation. Regulations under the Community Care Assisted Living Act and the Hospital Act obligate care homes to report critical incidents which allows the Seniors Advocate Office to track them.

The BC Care Providers Association says it can monitor and report incidents because there are always people around the residents.

“The regulations are very prescriptive. You could have licensing inspectors dropping in at any moment to make sure that everything is being done the way it should be,” CEO Terry Lake said.

Mackenzie said the regulation of licensed care homes makes the information clear.

“Do things happen in care homes? Absolutely. But there is a good system for capturing that and allowing us each year to report on what is happening, what have been the incidents,” she said.

Mackenzie wants the government to create one concise senior’s aid agency. Not only would it be a clear avenue for the public to report on neglect and abuse, but it would also allow the province to improve on seniors’ care.

“One central place where these cases, where the intake happens, are managed tracked, followed, and reports are issued from,” Mackenzie said.

To read the full report on seniors abuse and neglect, click here.

by Amandalina Letterio

‘It’s fragmented’: British Columbia Seniors Advocate Office’s report suggests flaws in gathering senior abuse information

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