Long-term care facility in Merritt the subject of 19 outstanding health infractions: IH reports

Photo: Contributed

A long-term care facility in Merritt that is the site of an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak is the subject of 19 outstanding Interior Health infractions, and eight of them have been deemed critical in nature.

According to IH inspection reports, The Florentine in Merritt has 11 non-critical and eight critical outstanding infractions.

One of the infractions has to do with outbreak prevention.

“There is no system in place to ensure that outbreak prevention and control policies are in place to prevent or mitigate the risk of outbreaks,” the IH report reads, noting infection control practitioners attended and noted gaps in the facility’s policies.

Another infraction deals with the cleaning and sanitization of items in the facility.

Other infractions deal with fall prevention, the use of restraints and the “health, safety and dignity of persons in care.”

“There is no system in place to ensure that persons in care are regularly monitored to ensure that their needs continue to be met,” the report reads.

According to IH records, inspectors have visited The Florentine five times since September — three times for routine follow-ups, once for a routine inspection and once to investigate a substantiated complaint.

The complaint, in January, involved allegations of staffing issues and how the facility deals with significant changes in the health of patients.

The COVID-19 outbreak at The Florentine was declared on Feb. 18 and sits at two cases.

Castanet Kamloops asked Interior Health what further infractions could mean for The Florentine. No answer has been provided.