Health Minister Deb Matthews rose in the legislature to announce June 13 the new PSW Registry is up and running. Initially PSWs (Personal Support Workers) in the home care sector are being asked to sign up, followed by those working Ontario’s long term care homes.
This is the same registry the Health Professionals Regulatory Advisory Committee (HPRAC) recommended against in 2006 after extensive consultations with PSWs, employers, clients and other stakeholders.
HPRAC instead recommended additional steps to be taken to “improve PSWs education and training, staffing and supervision, and to provide better access to satisfactory recourse for patients and clients as a means of addressing instances of abuse and misconduct.”
HPRAC felt the cost of establishing such a registry would be prohibitive compared to the benefits it could generate.
OPSEU Diablogue 