THE province is touting the replacement of a bugridden nurse call system at the Kiwanis Care Centre with a pricey new upgrade as a win for patient safety.
Staff and patients at the North Vancouver residential care facility have been dealing with the faulty electronic alert system for several years. The problem has meant that patients' requests for assistance would from time to time fail to reach a nurse station. While the flaw never caused a serious incident, it was enough of a worry by 2010 that staff put it on a priority list to the health authority, according to a former manager of the facility.
On Sept. 7, the province obliged, announcing it would be spending $750,000 to replace the mechanism entirely.
The project is due to be completed by March 2013.
