Care homes are required to undergo regular audits and site visits (some unannounced) to ensure they are compliant with all the standards and policies in place, such as:
Care standards — to ensure operators meet all requirements related to infection prevention and control, safe bathing, medication management, staff competencies, and other protocols.
Staffing standards — there are strict regulations regarding the amount of care time each resident should receive per day, and the number and type of staff that should be working at all times. Long-term care, for example, requires that there are a specific number of nurses either on-site or immediately accessible 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Accommodation standards — Facilities and buildings must meet certain building code requirements such as fire safety and mobility standards (elevators, wheelchair access) as well as standards related to food preparation and handling.
In Alberta, the legislation, regulations and standards governing care homes have evolved over 50+ years and we are now seeing the resulting patchwork of overlapping, redundant and outdated rules.
In 2023 the Government of Alberta worked closely with CHAA and other sector partners to consolidate many of the old pieces of legislation into the new Continuing Care Act , which will come into force in 2024. The new Act will streamline, standardize and simplify the maze of laws and regulations across the continuing care sector.
Related content
Learn more about continuing care in Alberta.
Continuing care regulations
While legislation confers broad powers or imposes high-level restrictions, regulations are intended to govern the details around who is accountable to carry out specific actions and what those actions should entail. Alberta initiated some consultatio
Who monitors and enforces adherence to regulations?
There are multiple layers of accountability built into regulations to ensure contracted operators know what’s expected.
The connection between legislation and regulations
There is (or should be) a clear separation in the scope of legislation versus the accompanying regulations. Learn about their respective accountabilities.