Seniors’ homes survey released by health council
By Gillian Slade on July 13, 2017.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade The results of a province-wide survey of people living in seniors’ facilities was made public Wednesday by the Health Quality Council of Alberta. It has raised concerns about the variation in responses when it comes to care received and the experiences of residents, said CEO Andrew Neuner. The overall care rating across the province ranged from 6.0 to 9.5. Neuner suggests not scoring above 8.0 should be of concern to operators/owners and be motivation to take action and turn that around. Pleasant View Lodge in Bow Island scored 9.5 and Kingsland Terrace in Calgary scored 6.0. Locally, Cypressview scored 8.9, Meadow Ridge Seniors Village 8.5, The Wellington 7.8 and Meadowlands 7.3. One of the reasons for doing the survey and publishing the results is to provide management of facilities information on where they can make changes to do better, said Neuner. The number of people who participated in the survey is significant this year. “We had 7,400 Albertans who responded, which is about a 60 per cent response rate, which is very, very high,” said Neuner. “It tells us this is something that people care about very deeply.” The 2015 survey showed a significant difference between rural and urban areas. At the time it was thought a possible explanation could be that residents in rural areas may be better known to local staff creating a closer bond and perhaps level of care. This time there is no significant difference between rural and urban, said Neuner. “Food and staffing levels are two of the items that come up each and every time we do the survey,” said Neuner. “This is something that is really important.” For questions about food, scores ranged from 60.9 at Kingsland Terrace in Calgary to 93.1 at Pleasant View Lodge in Bow Island. Locally, Cypressview scored 85.3, The Wellington 85.0, Meadow Ridge Seniors Village 82.8, and Meadowlands 82.3. Under additional questions on whether the food served met dietary needs the Wellington scored 100, as did Meadowlands. A question about whether residents had their mental health and emotional needs met ranged from 94 per cent for Cypressview to 100 per cent for River Ridge. In addition to mailed-in surveys, where anonymity is guaranteed, some interviews are conducted, said Neuner. “A lot of residents and families had very positive things to say about the staff. We also heard a lot of other comments on areas where they would like to see improvements,” said Neuner. Many residents and loved ones have said the survey is a great way to comment and later compare. “It gives Albertans a collective voice and helps advocate for improvements,” said Neuner. If you are looking for the name of a facility that does not appear in the results it could be that facility did not have enough residents that met the criteria to participate in the survey. This could result in not enough surveys to be an appropriate sampling to include in results, said a spokesperson for HQCA. You can see the full report, nearly 200 pages, on the HQCA website hqca.ca. 20
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