The issue
Provinces and territories across Canada are looking for new ways to support workforce planning. Challenges across the long-term care continuum vary and can include a decrease in some professions providing care and an increase in the complexity of care of residents.
Data-driven planning can lead to better decisions and improved care delivery, however challenges such as non-standardized data collection, the burden of collecting, and a lack of comprehensive data on Personal Support Workers (PSWs), one of the main care providers within long-term care, among other professions persist.
In order to improve planning now and over time, there is a heightened need for detailed deidentified data on care providers. Additionally, identifying outcomes for residents and trends in their needs, as well as better understanding the impacts of different care models, will play an important role in workforce planning.
The innovative work
On Friday, March 21, 2025, Health Workforce Canada partnered with experts from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and Shannex Incorporated to discuss work being done within the aged care sector to capture and connect data, reduce workforce vacancies, and enhance residents’ experience.
Natalie Damiano
Director of Health Workforce Information, CIHI
- CIHI’s profession agnostic minimum data standard and data set was launched in 2022 and a number of professions including nursing, physiotherapist, occupational therapists and pharmacists are actively transitioning to it.
- Work is underway to improve Personal Support Worker (PSW) data capture, as is the development of six indicators related to aging with dignity. CIHI has also developed a snapshot report on health workforce trends in long-term care, to be released May 22, 2025.
- These projects all have significant potential to improve data quality and performance in the long-term care sector.
Brianne Bampton
Director, Compensation, Total Rewards & Workforce Services, Shannex Incorporated
- There continues to be an urgent need for PSWs, also known as Continuing Care Assistants (CCAs). Shannex has been working with partners in the sector to address the question ‘how can we get more CCAs into the workforce faster, without compromising training quality?’.
- Shannex has partnered with the Department of Seniors and Long-term Care (DSLTC), Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) and Nova Scotia Labour, Skills & Immigration (LSI) on a six-month program taught in a Shannex classroom/lab. Students are fully trained and receive on-site long-term care experience, graduating three months earlier than past program timelines with a full-time position in a care home following graduation.
- Shannex has developed a comprehensive workforce health dashboard to track and analyze various indicators related to the health of the workforce including overtime, sick time, and ratio compliance. This data is reviewed and used by the HR leadership team to focus efforts on improving performance at sites with lower scores, while also examining best practices at high-performing sites.
- Work is being done to reduce gaps through initiatives like the LPN Enhanced Orientation, a six-week paid orientation program to help internationally trained nurses get familiarized with Shannex values, standards and practices.
- A new initiative, implementing the role of a practice development nurse, is shifting the traditional mentorship role. These experienced nurses are not active on the floor, rather, they strictly mentor, train and ensure new grads, or those new to the sector or new to Canada are getting the support they need to be successful.
New Long-Term Care Continuum Dashboard Module:
Health Workforce Canada has released a new module on the Long-Term Care Continuum, incorporating available data from CIHI and Statistics Canada. By connecting different datasets into a one-stop shop, users can examine trends in workforce availability and demand across different regions, as well as resident experiences and outcomes, to help inform planning. The module currently focuses on long-term care homes but will evolve to include other places where LTC services are delivered as well as highlight population needs and demand for LTC across the country.
Interactive Tool to Estimate Future Demand for Personal Support Workers in Canada:
Currently in development at Health Workforce Canada is an interactive tool to estimate the needed number of Personal Support Workers in years to come. Drawing on data from Canada’s Labour Force Survey, the tool applies microsimulation modelling techniques, a method traditionally underused for health workforce modelling.
With historical data starting in 2020, and the ability to project up to 2048, users will be able to test the impacts of alternative scenarios in real time, examining the anticipated supply of PSWs needed by province and territories, and by care settings, including hospitals, home care, and residential care.
“We have the opportunity to really reimagine how we bring in health workforce data, and also what health workforce data we may have available to us.”
Natalie Damiano, Director of Health Workforce Information, CIHI
Key takeaways
- When using the currently available data, it’s important to visualize the larger picture and interconnections between workforce data, population needs, and patient outcomes.
- Utilizing automation and technology could be an important consideration to help improve standardization and minimize the heavy burden of traditional data collection.
- In addition to advancing data, modelling, and forecasting tools, it’s equally important for employers to continue to ensure healthcare providers feel valued and choose to stay in their workplaces.
- Incremental improvements continue to be made in the health workforce sector and continued conversations to scale and spread initiatives is imperative.