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The Nova Scotia government has dedicated $460,000 in funding for bursaries to those entering a Continuing Care Assistant (CCA) training program in an effort to boost recruitment. The government-appointed Expert Panel on Long-Term Care recommended more funding for training as part of their report delivered in January.
“This is a welcomed announcement that we hope will result in more trained CCAs, that will in turn ease the workload across the province’s overburdened long-term care sector,” said Linda MacNeil, Atlantic Regional Director. “There is still more work to do in order to address staffing shortages and the pressures of dealing with more acute health needs and increasingly complex mental health needs.”
Unifor members in Nova Scotia presented a full report to the panel in late 2018 with recommendations to address deteriorating working conditions, to expand training opportunities for new and current staff and to invest in long-term care budgets to meet current needs. Read the full submission here.
Long-term care workers hoped action would be taken quickly after the Expert Panel’s review was made public, but Unifor members report conditions remain the same across many long-term care facilities.
“We are still expected to do more with less, we continue to struggle to book any time off due to lack of staff, and are consistently working short-handed because of recruitment and retention issues,” said Linda MacLeod, President of Unifor Local 4620. “Workers have sounded the alarm because we have been watching this happen over many years and know people are burning out. We have to be cared for as workers so we can offer great care to our residents.”
The Nova Scotia government cut the long-term care budgets in two consecutive budgets in 2015 and 2016, and only returned some of the original funding following loud opposition from Unifor, other unions, employers and families in the 2017 budget.
“We remain hopeful Premier McNeil understands the depth of the problem and hope this step forward is one of many taken to invest in the dignity of residents and the wellbeing of long-term care workers,” said MacNeil.
Read the press release here.
