A complaint was raised that Health PEI had not notified a patient’s substitute decision-maker, the Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT), at the time of a patient’s discharge from hospital. Further, the complainant stated that Health PEI had not advised or consulted the PGT regarding the patient’s discharge plan in advance. The complainant explained that this created challenges for the patient at the time of discharge.
In response to our assessment, Health PEI acknowledged that they had not sufficiently notified the PGT that the patient would be discharged before it happened and that they had a duty to collaborate with the PGT on discharge planning, as required by Health PEI policies. To address this error, Health PEI apologized and committed to collaborating with the PGT to create standard operating procedures when treating patients subject to the PGT. Further, Health PEI updated its internal database to prompt its staff to communicate with substitute decision-makers in accordance with policy requirements.
