Home care is being delayed and people are staying in hospitals longer because of a shortage of personal support workers in the area.
The Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which oversees healthcare services in the region, says the shortage of personal support workers in the area is “one of our top priorities” right now.
“It’s an issue that is escalating right across the province, not just in our LHIN,” said Karyn Lumsden, Vice President, Home and Community Care with the region’s LHIN.
“When there is a shortage of personal support workers available, then people are at risk for having a care appointment missed. In other words, there’s the risk of a personal support worker not being able to come out to their home to provide their care that day.
“That’s just a very concerning situation. That’s just not acceptable,” Lumsden said.
It’s a problem that is on the province’s radar. Lumsden attended a half-day meeting recently hosted by the provincial government to discuss the “escalating” shortage.
“It’s a challenge we have to get on top of now, because it’s a challenge that could continue to grow if we don’t get some strategies in place,” she said.
That challenge in both attracting people into the PSW workforce and in keeping them there.
Lumsden said that there are roughly 35,000 patients annually in the region that receive PSW care and that on any given day there are between 8,000 and 12,000 people receiving care.
She said the shortage means some patients don’t get visits altogether and that some patients who are ready to continue their care at home are staying in hospitals longer until PSW care is available.
“You can’t grow PSWs on trees, but there are a number of strategies we have in place” to help address the issue, Lumsden said.
In the short term, there are weekly phone calls with contractors and other agencies to try and make sure service is being provided as efficiently as possible in the short term until a PSW is available.
Another is partnering with Conestoga College to provide enhanced PSW training that will help make the job more appealing and attract more people to it.
Other efforts include creating hubs of PSW private contractors who work together to make sure that the needs of a particular area or community are being met.
Lumsden said this “clustering” allows for flexibility and allows for the greatest number of patients to be seen by the fewest number of PSWs.
She agreed that the pay grade (most PSWs make between $16 and $20 an hour) might be a challenge, as is finding ways to make the job more flexible for those doing it, such as flexible hours and supporting those in the field.
“This is a really valuable job in patient care and if we don’t figure out how to make it more attractive for individuals to want to do that work and feeling supported and staying in that work, then the challenge will continue,” Lumsden said.
“I personally believe that there’s no role more valuable in community care than personal support work.”
