Ontario has promised three million new hours of home care personal support services over the next three years. While it sounds like a lot, keep in mind that about 32 million hours of public home care are delivered annually and another 20 million hours are paid for privately. Further, the province is leaning heavily on the sector to offload clients from Ontario’s hospitals. The province tells us that the new hours will assist 90,000 more seniors, or 30,000 more per year. In 2011/12 a total 637,727 clients were served by home care according to the Ontario Home Care Association.
Last year the province introduced a PSW Registry (Personal Support Worker), which sets qualification standards for these workers in order to be on the registry. Without the bother of creating a specific professional college for these workers, the registry was supposed to be a way of maintaining discipline among a group that is generally ill defined and whose duties can vary dramatically.
Just before the December holidays, the province quietly introduced regulatory changes to expand which agencies can provide PSWs to do this work.
The change in policy allows community support service agencies (CSS) to deliver personal support services, but will not require the PSWs hired by these agencies to be on the new registry – at least not yet.
These support agencies have traditionally carried out functions such as delivering meals on wheels, carrying out homemaking duties, running social day programs, and providing transportation services to the frail and elderly. While such services can include respite care, they are generally not the kind of agencies that would provide a bath or assistance with toileting or dressing, for example.
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