More healthcare workers coming to senior residential care homes in B.C. Interior

KAMLOOPS – Seniors in the Interior will start to see more staff at residential care homes, according to Health Minister Adrian Dix.

Dix held a news conference today, March 1, in Kamloops to provide details of plan announced last year to spend close to $5.3 million to increase staffing levels in residential care homes in the province. Dix also took part in a Chamber of Commerce sponsored luncheon today that include a question and answer period with Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian.

"We’re hiring 1500 new staff people to come up on average to provincial standard within three years," Dix said at the luncheon.

The spending is the first step in a plan to provide 3.36 care hours per resident per day in health authorities in B.C. by 2021, which is up from 3.11 hours in 2016.

"In 2017, less than three in 20 care homes met the standard, including virtually all the publicly funded beds in private and non-profit care homes. For seniors, this meant below standard care, fewer baths and a lower quality of life than our parents and grandparents deserve," Dix said.

The province says almost 77,000 additional direct care hours across 31 Interior residential care homes had been provided by the end of September 2018.

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