Seeking national standards
Andrews Senior Care has spent two years working on accreditation
Andrews Senior Care, which operates three nursing homes and two community care homes, is the first private organization in P.E.I. to begin seeking accreditation under national standards for long-term care.
The national standards were published in January 2023 following the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The standards were jointly developed by the Health Services Organization (HSO), the Canadian Standards Association and the Standards Council of Canada.
The standards, which are not required by federal or provincial governments, place a significant focus on resident-centred care. This includes standards and procedures around ensuring residents are aware of their rights and have the capacity to make their own decisions. The standards are also intended to improve long-term care infection control and staffing practices, prevent falls and improve end-of-life care.
Andrews Seniors Care, which operates 98 long-term care beds in the province, announced earlier this month that it has obtained what is called accreditation primer through Accreditation Canada, a first step in obtaining the HSO standard. The primer component is followed by Qmentum Global accreditation, which is significantly based on the HSO long-term care services standard.
To obtain Qmentum accreditation, Andrews will need to wait another two years to go through a more comprehensive round of accreditation.
To date, no other private long-term care operator in P.E.I. has obtained the accreditation primer designation.
Mizan Uddin, group general manager at Andrews Senior Care, said his organization went through the accreditation process partly to see what the process would be like.
“It was voluntary. And we just wanted to see exactly what that encompassed," Uddin told Saltwire in an interview.
The result was positive for Andrews, a private provider owned by Murphy’s Healthcare. Uddin said the organization overall had a score of 82 per cent in its accreditation.
Uddin said Andrews had already put in place many of the recommended infection control and resident care practices before beginning the accreditation process two years ago.
Orders for personal protective equipment – such as face masks and shields – arrived at Andrews facilities in 2020 early in the pandemic, before even other Health P.E.I. long-term care homes had obtained them, Uddin said.
The organization also replaced its plank flooring with vinyl on the recommendation of the Department of Health. Vinyl flooring is easier to clean and was more germ-resistant. Portable ventilation units, which are equipped with HEPA filters, have also been put in place.
“The point is that we've always been proactive in terms of infection prevention and control," Uddin said.
The pandemic had a disproportionate and deadly impact on the longterm care sector in Canada and in P.E.I.
In the year 2022, the year of the Omicron wave of COVID-19, 78 per cent of COVID-19 outbreaks reported in P.E.I. were in long-term or community care homes.
Uddin said no resident deaths related to COVID-19 occurred at Andrews Seniors Care facilities during the pandemic.
INSPECTIONS, ACCREDITATION
Like other private long-term care facilities, Uddin said Andrews has taken part in yearly inspections conducted by P.E.I.’S Department of Health and Wellness.
He said Andrews performs very well in these inspections. But for families looking at options for care of an elderly loved one, he said it can be difficult to assess quality of care between public and private nursing or community care homes.
"In my opinion, all private and public homes should be under the same systems,” Uddin said.
Health P.e.i.-operated long-term care homes are not required to conduct yearly provincial inspections like private homes do. Instead, public long-term care homes are accredited every four years through Accreditation Canada.
The standards for accreditation and provincial inspections also differ somewhat.
Uddin said he believes some aspects of accreditation could be incorporated in provincial inspections but said yearly, public inspections are still the best mechanism for gauging quality of care. He believes accreditation standards are more comprehensive than provincial inspections.
A 2022 internal review of the province’s long-term care system noted differences in quality assessment, staff training and infection control measures between public and private long-term care homes.
A $25 million agreement between the province and private long-term care homes, announced on April 10, will see 54 new beds opened in private homes.
Uddin said Andrews is a partner in this agreement but said he was not yet aware how many of the 54 new spaces will be in Andrews facilities.