Ontario’s long-term minister says she is “always hiring” new personal support workers and has revealed the Ford government is currently considering new incentive programs to tempt people to consider a career in the sector.
Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, who worked as a nurse before entering politics, said her ministry is looking at what it can do to attract new long-term care workers to help meet care standards and staff new facilities.
“Currently, I am looking at the Ministry of Long-Term Care and seeing what kind of incentives we can provide for people to be attracted to the long-term care sector,” she told Global News in an interview after announcing new college places for nurses.
“We are currently reviewing these programs and seeing whether we need to adjust certain things or introduce new programs and new incentives specifically targeted at the Ministry of Long-Term Care.”
Among the pressures on the system is the province’s target to build 30,000 net new long-term care beds by 2028.
Kusendova-Bashta said it was early in her ministry’s work, but that she wanted to see a renewed recruitment drive for personal support workers in Ontario.
“Everywhere I go, I say, ‘Long-term care is hiring — so please join,’” she said. “I’m always hiring and I’m always looking for opportunities to expand the long-term care workforce.”
Ontario already has a number of incentive programs in place to attract new staff to work in long-term care.
Students studying to become personal support workers can apply for a $5,440 stipend during their placement. According to Ontario Health’s website, eligible staff who make a 12-month commitment to a long-term care home can receive $10,000, with a $10,000 relocation incentive also in place.
“We are seeing more challenges in recruitment and retention in the north, so we have targeted investments and incentives in long-term care for PSWs, and we’re seeing whether we can expand that as well,” Kusendova-Bashta said.
The union representing staff currently working in the sector said one-off incentives were less important than broad reforms to improve wages and reduce the number of patients staff have to assist.
“It needs to be about boosting the hourly wage,” Debra Maxfield, chair of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee, said. “The government does need to focus on more money and hourly wages; they need to focus on the staffing ratios.”
Ontario also needs more staff to hit its care targets.
A recent report from the provincial government shows Ontario got close — but ultimately fell short — of its legislated goal of four hours of direct care per long-term care patient.
The Progressive Conservative government set the target aimed at boosting both the amount of direct care residents receive from nurses and personal support workers, as well as other health professionals such as physiotherapists, in a 2021 law.
While the government met its interim targets in the following two years, starting at three hours of direct care, it did not reach the third-year or final targets, amid staffing challenges.
In the last year, the average direct hours of nursing and PSW care in long-term care homes across the province was three hours and 49 minutes, or 95.5 per cent of that four-hour target, according to a report recently published by the ministry.
Maxfield said the province had a tough task on its hands solving recruitment and retention problems in the sector.
“It’s very hard to recruit PSWs,” she said.
“The demands in long-term care — we have complex residents coming in and it’s hard to keep up. I mean, since the pandemic, everybody is still tired, we’re still burned out. Staffing ratios in long-term care — when you have one PSW to 10 residents, how do you get that care?”
— with files from The Canadian Press