Fixes sought for shortage of personal care workers
Two Ottawa residents with expertise in long-term care have been appointed to an advisory group tasked with helping the province find solutions to the worsening problem of staffing in long-term care homes.
Akos Hoffer, CEO of the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre, and Grace Welch, chair of the Champlain Region Family Council Network Advisory Committee, are among 10 people named to the long-term care staffing study advisory group.
Dr. Merrilee Fullerton, minister of long-term care, announced the committee as part of the province’s response to recommendations from the public inquiry that was called after Elizabeth Wettlaufer’s conviction on eight counts of first-degree murder, along with attempted murder and aggravated assault, while working as a registered nurse in Ontario long-term care homes.
The inquiry focused on medication safety, as well as other issues, including staffing.
There is a severe shortage of personal support workers across the province, something the union Unifor recently said is so significant that some funded long-term care beds in Thunder Bay have not been able to open.
Welch recently said that PSW training programs are having a hard time finding applicants, even when tuition is free.
Fullerton said a staffing study will be in place by the end of this year. One part of it will be to address adequate funding in longterm care, answering a recommendation of the public inquiry.
“The sector is experiencing a severe shortage of personal support workers and other key roles, and that’s why our government is taking action to help Ontarians fill these fulfilling, in-demand jobs,” Fullerton said.
Among other things, the study will look at ways to keep workers and staff, an ongoing issue for PSWs, whose jobs are often demanding and poorly paid.
To date, the province says it has implemented 18 recommendations that arose from the public inquiry and 40 are underway. The inquiry made 91 recommendations.