Ensuring Public Safety-Reporting Alleged Abuse

Ensuring Public Safety

The BC Care Aide and Community Health Worker registry is for all registered care aides and community health workers in BC to improve standards of care. According to the BC Care Aide and Community Health Worker website, the Registry was created to "serve and protect vulnerable patients, residents, and clients receiving care from health care assistants in the province". The registry holds a database of all registered care aides and community health workers for reporting and investigating complaints of alleged abuse of patients, residents, and clients by health care

Reporting Alleged Abuse

If you are being abused or neglected or you witness elder abuse and neglect, you can get help. Find out where to get help here 

Community Care and Assisted Living Act Residential Care Regulation [includes amendments up to B.C. Reg. 10/2010, January 15, 2010]

Schedule D (Section 77 [reportable incidents])

Reportable Incidents

For the purpose of this regulation, any of the following is a reportable incident:

 

“emotional abuse” means any act, or lack of action, which may diminish the sense of dignity of a person in care, perpetrated by a person not in care, such as verbal harassment, yelling or confinement;

 

“financial abuse” means the misuse of the funds and assets of a person in care by a person not in care, or the obtaining of the property and funds of a person in care by a person not in care without the knowledge and full consent of the person in care or his or her parent or representative;

 

“neglect” means the failure of a care provider to meet the needs of a person in care, including food, shelter, care or supervision;

 

“physical abuse” means any physical force that is excessive for, or is inappropriate to, a situation involving a person in care and perpetrated by a person in care;

 

“sexual abuse” means any sexual behavior directed towards a person in care and includes any sexual exploitation, whether consensual or not, by an employee of the licensee, or any other person in a position of trust, power or authority, and sexual activity between children or youths, but does not include consenting sexual behavior between adult persons in care.

Note: This regulation replaces B.C. Reg. 536/80.

[Provisions of the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 75, relevant to the enactment of this regulation: section 34]