Important Legislative changes regarding the Adult Guardianship Act
The Certificate of Incapability process under the Patients Property Act was investigated by the Ombudsperson in the February 2013 report titled “No Longer Your Decision: British Columbia’s Process for Appointing the Public Guardian and Trustee to Manage the Financial Affairs of Incapable Adults”. The Ombudsperson made 28 recommendations directed at health authorities, the Public Guardian and Trustee of BC, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Health to enhance the fairness of the process of issuing certificates of incapability. Many of the recommended changes will be brought into force on December 1, 2014 under Part 2.1 of the Adult Guardianship Act and Regulations. The new framework will provide significant procedural protections for the adult, including enhanced notifications, standards for conducting assessments of financial incapability, and clarity on what factors must be considered prior to issuing a certificate of incapability.
As part of the new legislative framework, the Statutory Property Guardianship Regulation sets out which health care providers are qualified to conduct the functional component of the assessment to determine incapability for managing financial affairs, in addition to physicians. Several disciplines are listed as health care providers that may be qualified including: registered social workers, registered nurses and nurse practitioners, registered psychiatric nurses, registered occupational therapists, and registered psychologists. The Statutory Property Guardianship Regulation requires that the regulatory bodies of the prescribed health care providers establish Standards, Limits and Conditions for registrants who will be acting as qualified health care providers under this regulation.
There mandatory online training course for Qualified Health Care Providers is now available. For employees of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Providence Health Care, Island Health Authority, Interior Health Authority and Fraser Health Authority, please go to your health authority learning management system to take this course. Non health authority employees may take the course from the PHSA learning hub. Successful completion of the course is required to ensure the safe implementation of this new regulation and prior to conducting the functional component of an assessment to determine financial incapability. If you work with the vulnerable adults, you may be required to successfully complete the course.
Please note the following:
- The online course is the mandatory requirement under the college’s conditions.
- The online course is currently the only program accepted under condition 1(a), and
- The conditions listed in 1(b) and 1(c) are not currently available.
Standards, Limits, and Conditions for Qualified Health Care Providers conducting the functional component of an assessment of incapability.
