Critical care nurses in southern Ontario have reached a breaking point after they say more than a year and a half of brutal pandemic work and stagnant pay has led to a staffing shortage so severe they believe it's putting patients in danger.
The Ontario government is investing an additional $169 million to extend the temporary wage increase for personal support workers and direct support workers for the third time since its initial investment last year. This increase will continue until October 31, 2021 and will help stabilize staffing levels and support our frontline health care workers to ensure the province is prepared to respond to any scenario as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve.
Finding a full-time PSW job may seem impossible to new Personal Support Workers and even to workers that have been in this field for years, but this doesnt have to be your case. In this article, we want to debunk some of the myths around PSW jobs and provide our best recommendations and tips on this topic to help you land that full time position you want to start building your career in this field.
The Canadian institute for Health Information just released new data about how many health-care workers have been impacted by the novel coronavirus as of June 2021. The report revealed that nearly 95,000 health-care workers have been infected with COVID-19 and 43 have died from the disease throughout the pandemic. The majority of the infections were in Quebec (12.3 per cent) and Ontario (4.4 per cent).
The Ontario government is investing more than $2M over two years to provide new and recently hired personal support workers (PSWs) and nurses with financial incentives to encourage them to work in retirement homes. The new Recruitment and Retention Incentive Program will be delivered by the Registered Practical Nurses Association of Ontario (WeRPN), and will help recruit and retain skilled PSWs and nurses while building on Ontario’s plan to modernize the provincial retirement homes sector.
Since October 2020, thousands of personal support workers and direct support workers have been entitled to a temporary hourly raise in recognition of the important work they do and the risks they have faced during COVID-19. However, other PSWs working in settings like long-term-care homes and retirement homes didn’t qualify for the raise — and now, with the Ontario premier’s promise to make the raise permanent, they’re asking to be included.
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