Citizens asked to share their experience with home care services

Moncton, NB (NBHC) - The New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) is conducting a survey that will evaluate the quality of home care provided to New Brunswickers. Citizens who have recently received home care services for which costs are entirely or partially covered by public funds will be contacted by phone and will be asked about their experiences.  The survey will look at accessing and navigating services, meeting the needs of clients and their families, provider/client communication, safety, equity based on preferred language of service, and overall satisfaction with services.  

 

“Home care services allow New Brunswickers to stay in their own home and to live their life as independently as possible,” says Stéphane Robichaud, CEO of the NBHC. “By answering this survey, citizens will get a unique opportunity to help us identify what is being done well and what could be done better, with the goal to improve home care services.” This week, we will start sending letters to service recipients to inform them that they could receive a survey call.

 

Home care includes clinical services that can be provided by a nurse, social worker, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech language pathologist, respiratory therapist, dietitian, rehabilitation support personnel, or pharmacist; they are most often provided by the Extra-Mural Program.

 

Home care also includes personal care services provided by a home support worker to help with bathing, dressing, grooming, feeding, transferring, home cleaning, laundry, meal preparation, or respite/relief care; they are most often provided by home support agencies.

 

In New Brunswick, the Department of Health funds the Extra-Mural Program and the Department of Social Development funds home support services, entirely or partially, based on eligibility.

 

 The overall results of this survey will be made public in the fall of 2012 and will be available to government departments, regional health authorities and home support agencies to make fact-based decisions to improve health services delivery and home care services for New Brunswickers.

 

The home care survey is the third survey of a four year cycle for the NBHC. Survey results for the acute care survey (2010) and the primary care survey (2011) are available on the NBHC web site. In 2013, the NBHC plans to survey long term care services in New Brunswick.

 

The NBHC has been established as an independent organization that measures, monitors and evaluates New Brunswick’s health system performance through a citizen-centered dual mandate of performance measurement and citizen engagement.  

 

MEDIA CONTACTS
New Brunswick Health Council: Christine Paré, 506-869-6714, christine.pare@nbhc.ca
Web site: nbhc.ca