Return To Programs and Departments

GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY PROGRAM
The geriatric psychiatric population has a wide range of characteristics, and services are designed to meet their specific needs. As endorsed by the Ministry of Health, the populations to be served by this specialty geriatric service are those older individuals with:

Table #18 The Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatient Program-Dementia and Behavioural Service

	1997/98 (actual)	1998/99 (actual)	1999/2000 (forecast)
Salaries	2,787,914	2,782,413	2,835,300
Benefits	805,430	682,064	503,300
ODOE	733,072	839,909	695,000
TOTAL	4,326,416	4,304,386	4,033,600
FTEs	65.6	65.4	65.8
Set-up Beds	32	32	32
Staffed Beds	NA	NA	18
Active Inpatients	17	15	18
Inpatient days	6,200	6,253	6,300
Avg. Length of Stay (LOS)	312	206	300
Inpt. Admissions	29	29	29
Inpt. Discharges	29	33	30

Table #19 Geriatric Psychiatry Patient Activity 1998/99 by District

	Brant	Haldimand-Norfolk	Halton	Niagara	Ham.-Went	*NFA	*Other	TOTAL
#Of admiss.	1	1	4	7	15	1	0	29
#Of disch.	0	1	4	3	19	6	0	33
#Outpt. Registrations	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
#Separations	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

*NFA = No fixed address
*Other = outside of the catchment area
*The Geriatric Outreach Programs' clients are not registered outpatients of HPH. They are counted as Direct Contacts. These clients are normally registered with other community agencies/facilities.

Table #20 Geriatric Psychiatry Outreach Service-Brant and Niagara

	1997/98 (actual)	1998/99 (actual)	1999/2000 (forecast)
Salaries	462,489	480,429	485,200
Benefits	133,612	117,767	86,100
ODOE	585,857	424,798	351,500
TOTAL	1,181,958	1,022,994	922,800
FTEs	10.5	11.4	11.4
Outpt. Direct contact ( non-registered outpatients)	9,845	6,353	9,250
Outpatient Indirect Contacts	5,976	4,282	5,000

*Outpatient contacts (direct and indirect) may be understated due to failure to report statistics.
*Halton Geriatric Outreach Mental Health Programs statistics and dollars are captured separately.

The Program continues to increase its ability to be used as a resource for caregivers of family members with dementia and severe mental illness. It works with other specialty services to improve emergency responsiveness to this population. In addition, the program continues to work together with St. Joseph's Community Health Centre and the Hamilton Health Sciences Corp/St. Peter's Chronic Care Hospital to provide a regional specialty service to determine how best to serve the needs of this population. Collectively, they work to enhance and support the primary system.

The Geriatric Psychiatry Program has participated in active sharing of human resources and development of service agreements and partnerships. It continues its collaborative projects with agencies, the hospital community, and the long-term care sectors. With the new ACT Team in Halton, the program has the lead to develop a cohesive network of community partners through a program of community development and outreach. The Team is working out of Martin House (part of Allendale-a Long-Term Care Facility) in Milton. In Haldimand-Norfolk, discussions are underway to develop enhanced specialized services for the geriatric population.

The Program is also a key partner in Hamilton-Wentworth where they are piloting the BUS (Behavioural Urgent Support) Program. This project is aimed at providing a mechanism to match services to needs both in the community and in facilities with the idea of maintaining individuals in their residences to minimize dislocation.

Education
The Geriatric Psychiatry Service plays a major role in education in Central South Region (previously referred to as Central West) and throughout the province. The service works collaboratively with its partners to enhance knowledge and skills in treating mental illness in the geriatric population.

In Long-term Care (LTC) facilities, the prevalence of mental illness is approximately 60% of the population. The Geriatric Psychiatry Service in collaboration with McMaster University has won a $1M contract to provide training province-wide for staff in long-term care facilities. Throughout the province there are 504 LTC facilities of which 100 are located in Central West Region. A major focus of this endeavour is to work in collaboration with LTC facilities to develop and integrate their services with local specialty psychogeriatric resources. This will enhance knowledge and skills in geriatric mental health and thereby ensuring more efficient and effective use of these specialty resources. Implementation of this initiative in Central South (previously Central West), is underway and the program is now working with those who have been trained and continues to be a resource and source of education and development.

Other education initiatives include:

• Collaborative development of both care providers and clinicians in their agencies with regards to sensitivities and responsiveness to the elderly (Victorian Order of Nurses, Community Care Access Centres (CCAC), Canadian Mental Health Association CMHA, local Alzheimer's Society, etc.)
• In Brant County, a 12-week course on skill and knowledge development sponsored and facilitated by Outreach Program providers is offered to individual staff.
• Family Physicians: several educational strategies are undertaken within Central South Region and throughout the province and include use of small group, problem-based learning and use of the internet: