Tuesday September 8, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
Of the 364 community hospice beds in B.C., 45 are currently in Island Health. And Island Health will be adding more hospice beds. “We’ll have more to say on those additional beds in the coming months,” a Ministry official said last month.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Adrian Dix announced a 50 percent expansion of hospice beds in Langley (from 10 beds to 15), within a new standalone facility where construction started last month. It’s part of a larger plan to assign resources for elder care, in that the new standalone hospice facility will free up 10 beds in Langley Memorial Hospital in to be repurposed for long-term care in summer 2021.
The B.C. government, through Fraser Health and BC Housing, is providing $5 million toward the Langley hospice facility. The Langley Hospice Society is providing $2.28 million through community support and donations. The Province, working through the BC Centre for Palliative Care, is providing $900,000 and the Township of Langley is providing $219,000 as a grant/waiver of municipal charges. Fraser Health will continue to provide operational funding at the new residence.
Hospice in the community:
Hospice services are handled in a community (affiliate) or home-care setting in BC (and on Vancouver Island/Island Health), whereby one or more nurses go to a private home to provide palliative care to a dying patient, under the service called palliative community nursing. That’s part of BC Health’s End of Life care, as provided beyond the hospital setting.
Vancouver Island profile:
In 2019-2020 within the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA / Island Health), there were 2,290 clients visited for palliative community nursing care. In total there were 45,258 visits to those clients. Of the provincial total, that’s 24 percent of total hospice calls in BC.
A “visit” is an occasion in which care or service is provided to a client or an occasion when clinical direction that influences the care of the client is given. A visit may be for the purposes of client assessment and other care management activities in addition to the provision of other therapeutic and/or personal care services. Two staff members visiting a client would be recorded as one visit, unless the two staff members were visiting for different clinical purposes.
Within Island Health, there are four Community Hospice Clusters that are located in affiliate locations:
- Victoria Hospice – Victoria (17 beds)
- Ayre Manor – Sooke (2 beds)
- Ty Watson House – Port Alberni (4 beds)
- Hospice at the Views – Comox (4 beds)
COVID in the hospice framework:
The private room design coming to the new Langley hospice facility was developed before COVID-19, but will certainly now support the physical distancing requirements during the ongoing pandemic. In the new building, each room will be private, with outdoor access, use of comfortable and quite spaces, a sanctuary, kitchen and laundry.
Minister Dix said last month that this sort of facility is “appropriate and needed by a growing and aging population, with more beds and a dedicated facility with wraparound services”. More jobs are also part of the benefits of this expansion, a total of 14.8 FTE staff with nursing around the clock, said Minister Dix.
Construction of the new hospice building in Langley is good for the local economy, said Dix, with more than 30 sub-trades working on the building in Langley. He acknowledged and appreciates working alongside the local hospice society there.