Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Province Closer to Regulating PSWs

Registry will inform PSW education standards, create clear credentials, and establish a process for registering as a PSW

By Mira Ponomarenko, Ontario Healthcare Coordinator

In January, stewards and local board members came together to offer expert and insightful opinions on how an oversight agency for PSWs can best serve them and their patients. The collected wisdom of members and representatives was the foundation of a submission sent to the minister of health.

The province’s plan to create a regulatory authority for PSWs was announced in 2021, but the agency won’t be fully operational until regulations are approved. CLAC’s submission will, hopefully, inform the final version of these regulations.

Unlike nurses, doctors, lawyers, or teachers, PSWs are not regulated by a professional membership organization. Currently, a PSW must be certified to work in a long term care home, in homecare, or in a hospital. But once certified, there is no third-party oversight of their ongoing training or professional conduct.

The Health and Supportive Care Provider Oversight Authority (HSCPOA)—a mouthful of a title that we’ll refer to simply as the PSW registry—will incorporate some of the features of other professional regulatory bodies, such as the College of Nurses or the College of Surgeons and Physicians.

The PSW registry will inform PSW education standards, create clear credentials, and establish a process for registering as a PSW. It will also establish a member code of conduct including a process for professional discipline of PSWs who do not meet those standards of conduct. The PSW registry will also create and manage a public register of PSWs in good standing.

Registration under this new government agency, in very stark contrast to other professional bodies of this type, will be voluntary. The PSW registry will not define the legal scope of practice of a PSW and will not provide title protection. That means that a person who is not registered can still call themselves a PSW, but they will not be able to use a special identifying mark that signifies registration.

CLAC’s submission to the minister, with the input of members, is a nuanced and practice-informed response to the proposed regulations. We continue to support the establishment of the PSW registry and agree that registration should be voluntary.

But we expect that many employers may choose to make registration mandatory for the PSWs they employ. For that reason, CLAC argued that any current PSWs, even those who elect not to register right away, have an opportunity to register under special legacy provisions at any future time.

CLAC also explained why the registration should not become a financial burden to PSWs. This, in our view, should include sustained provincial funding for the operation of the PSW registry and modest, if any, fees for those who register.

The province is collecting and reviewing feedback on these regulations with no indication yet of when the PSW registry will launch. You can review some preliminary information on the HSCPOA website.

Province Closer to Regulating PSWs

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