PSW funding will increase home satisfaction and promote recruitment, retention: administrators
Administrators say $23.3-mil fund will benefit long-term care sector
Friday August 29, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
Administrators at two OMNI long-term care homes say the $23.3-million injection recently announced by the province to provide the long-term care sector with additional personal support workers (PSWs) will increase satisfaction amongst residents, families and staff members, while promoting recruitment and retention.

Rick Gourlie and Tina Cole say the province’s Aug. 19 announcement of the first round of funding, which was promised in the 2008 budget, will help bolster the quality of service in Ontario’s long-term care homes.

The first round of funding is aimed at attracting 873 PSWs to the sector.

Gourlie, the administrator at Almonte Country Haven, says by adding more PSWs to long-term care homes, caregivers will be allotted more time with residents and will be able to pay closer attention to detail.

With an increase in time, it will allow residents and PSWs to have increased one-to-one visits, which could decrease tension while increasing resident satisfaction, he adds.

“More money is more time (and) more time means that (PSWs) have more time to do what’s important, including paying more attention to the details,” says Gourlie. “Rather than rushing through to get their duties done, they can actually slow that down a bit and take a little bit more time (with residents).”

“(The funding) should increase satisfaction from the residents’ perspective, from the families’ perspective, and from the workers’ perspective with the job they do because they’ll feel more connection,” he adds.

The Ottawa-area long-term care will receive $25,595 in the first year of the funding.

Cole, the administrator at Kentwood Park, agrees with Gourlie, adding the new funding could help create more full-time employment and help promote recruitment and retention.

“It (could) be an opportunity to create more full-time jobs, which I think is really important because the staff struggles with trying to maintain two or three different jobs because there is a lot of PSWs out there,” she says. “Being able to offer them full-time work is certainly a good thing for recruitment.”

The Picton long-term care home is expecting $14,248 from the funding.

The funding is expected to see the creation of 2,500 PSW positions and 2,000 nurses in Ontario’s long-term care homes over the next four years. The funding is expected to increase the average paid hours of direct daily care to 3.5 hours by 2011.

The first phase of the funding is expected to be made available immediately.

For more information on the government’s announcement, click here.

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