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Government expects home and community care PSWs in Ontario to apply to the PSW Registry by April 1, 2013:
The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is “moving forward” with a mandatory PSW “registration policy” starting with the home care and community services sectors with the “expectation that all PSWs in these sectors will be registered by April 1, 2013”.
February, 2013
Although CUPE and OCHU have asked that the government reconsider the PSW Registry, the government continues to move forward on a registry list where PSWs face all of the negative aspects of professional regulation, yet none of the benefits.
The government wants to implement a policy that forces all home and community care organizations that receive government funding to ensure that every PSW/Health care aide/Personal Care aide applies to the PSW Registry list by April 1, 2013. The government has said that they hope to do this through amendments to the contracts the home and community care organizations have with the government.
As the PSW Registry rolls out, please contact your Steward and your CUPE National Representative if your employer directs you to apply to the PSW Registry or if you have any questions. CUPE and OCHU want to track how the government is managing this registry and want to help you with this process.
If you are a PSW/Health care aide/Personal Care aide and your employer has not directed you to apply to the PSW Registry, you can choose to do so or not. However, please consider that, while it is important to fill in the application correctly, optional sections do not need to be filled in. In fact, filling in the optional sections of the application means that employers and individuals can see your personal contact information, including address and phone number, your availability for work and other information. The optional sections are p.12 and p.13 Employment Availability and p. 10 Specialized Experience.
For PSWs/Health care aides/Personal Care aides who do not have a PSW certificate, you can still apply. You do not need a PSW certificate to apply to the PSW Registry. So far, the government has not announced a “sunset” date for accepting PSWs who do not have certificates.
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