Office of the Assisted Living Registrar

Complaint Investigation

The Office of the Assisted Living Registrar (OALR) investigates complaints about the health and safety of assisted living residents and about residences that provide assisted living without registration. The Assisted Living Registrar’s role is to ensure that assisted living residences operate in a way that does not jeopardize the health and safety of residents. Anyone with a concern about the health or safety of an assisted living resident can make a complaint to the OALR.

More information about the complaint process is provided in this brochure: Complaint Investigation in Assisted Living [PDF 411 Kb]. The brochure is also available from assisted living operators.

How to Make a Complaint

Assisted living operators must give residents information about how complaints are handled and must try to solve residents’ problems and concerns. Many operators have regular or periodic meetings with residents that can be used to raise concerns.

Complaints can be made:

  • by a resident, a family member or friend of a resident, residence staff, health authority staff, or a member of the public.
  • by phone, email, fax or in person.

1. Raise your concerns through the operator’s internal complaint resolution process. Many problems can be handled by talking things through. First, discuss the concern with a staff member, the residence manager, or a family member or friend. They may be able to help or suggest someone who can. Talking about concerns can help prevent small problems from developing into larger ones.

2. If you can’t resolve your concern using the operator’s internal complaints process, you can make a complaint directly to the Office of the Assisted Living Registrar. No one should try to prevent you from reporting concerns to the OALR. And after a complaint is made, the operator must continue to provide services as outlined in the occupancy agreement.

3. If you believe the Office of the Assisted Living Registrar has not dealt with your complaint fairly, you can contact the BC Ombudsman. The Ombudsman receives inquiries and complaints about the practices and services provided by public bodies, including the OALR, and may investigate to determine if the public body is being fair to the people it serves. On August 21, 2008, the Ombudsman announced a systemic investigation into seniors' care. You can read more about that investigation here.

How Are Complaints Investigated?

The OALR investigates complaints in a fair and transparent manner and, if the complainant requests, while maintaining their confidentiality. The purpose of complaint investigation is remedial: to ensure that the residence operator complies with the Health and Safety Standards [PDF 272 Kb] or comes into compliance. The OALR’s approach when investigating complaints is to ensure resident health and safety during the investigation, to promote good operating practices and to intervene in unacceptable practices.

  1. The OALR first determines whether it has jurisdiction to investigate the complaint. If it does not, the OALR redirects complaints to the appropriate government agency or other organization. Read more about the jurisdiction of the OALR >
  2. The OALR then determines the best approach for investigating the complaint. Some investigations involve a combination of approaches. For example:
    • If a complaint is relatively minor or results from a misunderstanding, the OALR educates the operator and/or complainant about the Health and Safety Standards [PDF 272].
    • The OALR can request copies of the operator’s policies, procedures or other documents to ensure the operator is complying with the standards.
    • The OALR can conduct a site inspection if the Assisted Living Registrar believes that an unregistered assisted living residence is being operated or that there are significant health and safety concerns at a registered residence or with a residence that is applying for registration.
    • If an assisted living operator cannot or will not comply with the Health and Safety Standards, the OALR uses progressive enforcement.
  1. If the OALR finds that an unregistered assisted living residence is being operated, the Registrar asks the operator either to stop providing assisted living services or to apply to register the residence. If the operator chooses to apply to register the residence, he or she must comply with the Health and Safety Standards [PDF 272 Kb] within a reasonable period of time.

Progressive Enforcement

The OALR generally follows an incremental, remedial approach when investigating complaints — e.g., starting with educating the complainant and the operator about the Health and Safety Standards [PDF 272 Kb] and reviewing the operator’s policies and procedures.

If there are repeated concerns at a residence about risks to resident health and safety, the Community Care and Assisted Living Act allows the Registrar to use progressive enforcement — e.g., adding conditions to an operator’s registration, changing the conditions of a registration and, in more dangerous situations, suspending or cancelling a registration. If the OALR finds that an operator is operating an unregistered assisted living residence and the operator either refuses to register the residence or applies to register but is unable to comply with the Health and Safety Standards [PDF 272 Kb], the operator may be subject to fines.

Jurisdiction of the OALR

The OALR has jurisdiction to deal with concerns and complaints about health and safety in assisted living residences. For example, the Registrar can investigate complaints about:

  • non-compliance with the Health and Safety Standards [PDF 272 Kb] — the residence may be operating in a way that puts the health or safety of a resident at risk.
  • a resident being unable to make decisions on their own behalf — the operator may be housing a resident who is unable to make the decisions needed to function safely in the semi-independent supportive environment of an assisted living residence.
  • operation of an unregistered assisted living residence — someone is offering assisted living services in a residence that is not registered.

The Registrar cannot investigate complaints about:

  • tenancy issues — the OALR does not deal with complaints such as failure to refund damage deposits or increases in rent without notice. The OALR refers tenancy complaints to the Residential Tenancy Branch.
  • operating issues — the OALR is not authorized to deal with complaints about issues such as residence staff, management-staff relations or services (e.g., dissatisfaction with meals) unless the complaint relates to the health or safety of a resident. These types of complaints should be resolved directly with the assisted living operator.
  • community care facilities — the OALR does not have authority to investigate complaints about community care facilities. Nor does the OALR have jurisdiction to investigate whether an assisted living operator is offering more than two prescribed services and is therefore operating an unlicensed community care facility contrary to the Community Care and Assisted Living Act. The OALR refers such complaints to the appropriate Community Care Facilities Licensing office.
  • case manager’s assessments — the OALR does not deal with complaints about people who a case manager has assessed as being ineligible for publicly subsidized assisted living. The OALR refers complaints about case manager assessments to the regional health authority.

Site Inspections

The purpose of a site inspection is to ensure compliance with the Health and Safety Standards [PDF 272 Kb]. The OALR may conduct a site inspection if it believes that an unregistered assisted living residence is being operated or that the health or safety of a resident is at risk. Inspections may also take place when the OALR is processing an application for registration.

The Assisted Living Coordinator and a peer reviewer conduct the inspections. The inspectors:

  • make observations and collect information about whether the operator is complying with the standards. The process is transparent and intended to be educational for the operator.
  • review their observations with the site manager and highlight any areas of non-compliance.

If deficiencies are identified, the operator must bring the residence into compliance within an agreed-upon time.

If the operator does not bring the residence into compliance, the OALR uses progressive enforcement. For example, the Registrar could start by notifying the operator in writing that if a given health and safety violation/breach occurs again, conditions will be attached to the registration. Read more about progressive enforcement >