In our latest article we share exciting news about LTC Standards in Canada from Mary Brachaniec, a careiver partner and member of the #SeePainMoreClearly team.
I am honoured to be among 32 Canadians recently appointed to the Health Standards Organization (HSO) Long-Term Care (LTC) Services Technical Committee tasked with developing the new National Standard for LTC Services.
I applied for this role as a caregiver partner on the University of Regina #SeePainMoreClearly team led by Dr. Hadjistavropoulos. I saw firsthand the strengths and weaknesses of our LTC homes while caring for my parents who suffered with dementia in their later years. I also had the opportunity to work as a physiotherapist in a LTC setting early in my career.
Our LTC Services Technical Committee will work with HSO to develop the new National Standard. The HSO website explains our mandate well:
“The pandemic has brought to light the long-standing challenges in long-term care and the need for a standard that will provide long-term care homes across Canada with evidence-based best practices to provide safe, reliable and high-quality care for its residents and to support a healthy and competent workforce.”
Our committee is led by Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health and University Health Network in Toronto, and Kaye Phillips, HSO Global Programs Executive Director.
Committee members hail from 11 provinces and territories and provide equal and equitable representation from four groups: LTC residents and family members, clinical team members and managers, policy makers, and those with a special interest and expertise in LTC services.
Members also bring a wealth of experience from key areas including dementia and mental health, palliative care, ethics, nutrition and infection prevention/control.
For a full list of committee members, please visit: https://longtermcarestandards.ca/technical-committee
We will work over the next 21 months to follow the tried and true HSO protocols to develop a high quality Standard that, once approved by the Standards Council of Canada, will be used by Accreditation Canada to evaluate our LTC services.
To add your perspectives on improving LTC services in Canada, please visit HSO’s website at:
The current (2020) LTC Services standard is also available by following this link.
HSO will also host a series of town halls to gather additional views from Canadians from coast to coast to coast on improving LTC services. We will then draft the new Standard and it will be available for public review in early 2022.
Please visit HSO’s website at https://longtermcarestandards.ca/ to monitor this progress.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to bring my experiences as a Caregiver and retired health professional to this Standard development process aiming to improve the lives of countless Canadians who reside in LTC homes now and in the future.
Mary Brachaniec
@brachaniec_mary
Caregiver Partner; CIHR SPOR Chronic Pain Network Patient Partner
How You Can Help?
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We are looking for policymakers, researchers, healthcare workers and family caregivers to participate in a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the #SeePainMoreClearly social media initiative to mobilize knowledge about pain in dementia.