Annual report / City of Calgary, Department of Public Health.

  • Calgary (Alta.). Health Department.
Date:
[1979]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report / City of Calgary, Department of Public Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    183/224 (page 89)
    89 Caseload Statistics The expansion of the Program was stimulated by the recognition of a gap in the care of the elderly, and of the handicapped of all ages, and it was gratifying to see that almost all of the increase in admissions occurred in these two groups. The proportion of these groups of citizens on the daily caseload was in the areaof 80%. A total of 2483 patients was referred, 2317 admitted, and there were 1624 patients discharged from Home Care. This statistic compares to 724 referrals in 1978. In the same period of time, the average daily census rose from 80 patients to 715. In the proposal for expansion, we indicated that the cases to be absorbed from the V.O.N. caseload could be serviced by Home Care within 12 to 18 months of the commencement of expansion. In fact, the entire V.O.N. caseload not already on Home Care but newly qualified under the regulations, was assimilated within six months. An indicator of the success our staff has had in the hospital referral program is illustrated in the following statistics. During 1979, a total of 3288 cases was referred from the five acute hospitals to various programs of the Board and throughout the province. This is a 30% increase over the total referrals made from the same sources in 1978. On supervision visits with the co-ordinators at the hospitals, acceptance of the coordinators by hospital staff as an integral part of their team” was noted. The Co-Ordinators are each managing a caseload of approximately 120 patients. Our goal is to reduce this caseload to a more manageable number of between 70-90 patients. Ref errals See graphs at conclusion of report. Service Provision All of the agencies that provide service to the program are working on a contractual basis. (a) Nursing The bulk of nursing care is provided by the V.O.N. at $13.50 per visit. Staff has increased from 18 nurses to 23, with further expansion of staff planned. Owing to a significant number of patients that require maintenance care or relatively minor nursing procedures, we have requested that V.O.N. diversify and provide a level of care (home health aid) at a lower fee. They have agreed to have this component of their program commence by April 1, 1980. During the past summer, the V.O.N. did not have staff available to meet the demands for service we were receiving. Therefore, registered nurses from Upjohn Health Care Services, Ltd. were hired to assist the rehabilitation therapists in respiratory care. Presently, there are two nurses from Upjohn working on a full time basis.