Working Group: Development of a New Royal Inland Hospital Mental Health and Substance Use Unit

There is a need to develop a new unit and program as an extension of the current Royal Inland Hospital Emergency Department (ED) for medically stable mental health and substance use patients, as the ED isn’t a conducive area for the care team to provide care that is acceptable, appropriate, safe, and effective for this patient population.
Open to: Volunteers in the Kamloops area

Lead Organization or Department

Interior Health – Quality, Risk and Accreditation

Aim

The goal is to utilize a currently vacant space in RIH and develop a program to better serve the MH&SU patient population.  The goal of having patient volunteers as partners on the project is to ensure that the processes and program are developed with the patients’ perspective in mind. Please note: This unit is not an inpatient unit.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement (www.iap2.org). The promise to you is that the health care partner will work with you to ensure that your ideas and concerns are reflected in recommendations and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.

Eligibility

This opportunity is open to Volunteers who:

• Have experience with Mental Health & Substance Use(MH&SU) acute and community care services in the Kamloops area.
• Volunteers who have previously attended a PVN orientation session. If you have not attended an orientation but are interested please contact Jacquelyne Foidart, 250.879.1077  jfoidart@bcpsqc.ca directly to see if accommodations may be possible.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 2
• Meetings will be held approximately twice per month starting early October and ending in December 2016
• Meetings are held in-person at RIH
• The first meeting will be held on Oct 6^th and the hope is to have patient volunteers join this working group as soon as possible

Reimbursement

Pre-approved expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with Interior Health’s policy.

Background

72% of MH&SU visits to the Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) Emergency Department (ED) were hemodynamically stable patients who were waiting for admission into the Acute Care Psychiatric Unit or were waiting to be assessed by the care team and discharged directly back into the community. The MH&SU care team faces many barriers within the physical layout of the ED when providing care to this particular patient population and this often leads to a longer ED stay than necessary. The ED is also experiencing an increasing volume of MH&SU patients and this combination is creating congestion within the ED. There is a large care team involved in this project.  The project is being led by Amanda Lavigne RIH Manager of MH&SU Services and Rae Samson Administrator for MH&SU Services IH West.  They will be supported by Naomi Erickson Manager of Quality Improvement & Patient Safety IH West acting as Project Lead, and a variety of other members representing the ED, Finance, Logistics, RIH Administration, MH&SU Practice Lead, MH&SU Clinical Practice Educator, Physician, Maintenance, and other ad hoc members.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Jacquelyne Foidart
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Thompson Cariboo
250.879.1077
jfoidart@bcpsqc.ca