Newly available data highlighting hundreds of incidents of senior-on-senior violence at B.C. care homes, including some that resulted in death, has prompted a review from the province’s seniors advocate.

Officials estimate there were between 425 and 550 violent incidents between seniors at care homes in 2014-2015 alone, according to the Monitoring Seniors’ Services report.

Seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie said more than a dozen such incidents recorded over the last three years were fatal.

“With this population, any incident that results in harm is a potential fatality,” Mackenzie said. “When you’re a frail, elderly person at 93, falling on the floor is a potential fatality to a much greater degree than if you or I were to fall on the floor.”

Mackenzie said the issue isn’t as widespread as it might seem, given that there are more than 27,000 people in residential care in B.C., but it still warrants a more in-depth review, which the Office of the Seniors Advocate will be conducting this year.

The review will try to identify any systemic issues contributing to the problem of senior-on-senior violence.

“It’s complicated,” Mackenzie said. “You’re dealing with a population the majority of which have a diagnosis of dementia. Dementia is not absolutely predictable in terms of the symptoms it will present.”

The Monitoring Seniors’ Services report, which was the first of its kind but will be published annually moving forward, also revealed home support hours decreased in three of five B.C. health authorities over the same period, while the number of clients increased in four of five.

The report also found that residential care beds in the province only increased by 3.5 per cent since 2012, while the population of British Columbians over the age of 75 has gone up by 10 per cent.

There were also several positive findings, including that 96 per cent of seniors reported having a regular general practitioner.

Mackenzie said it was also promising to find four of five seniors over the age of 85 do not have a dementia diagnosis.

To read the full report, visit the Office of the Seniors Advocate website.