The provincial agency, called Personal Support Services Ontario, will provide home care directly to serve hundreds of thousands of patients in Ontario. The move essentially turns personal support workers into provincial employees. It’s also predicted to take a portion of the cash for publicly-funded home care away from for-profit and not-for-profit agencies currently providing these services. While many advocates were critical of the province for relying on private-sector agencies to provide home care, this move is also considered as an attempt from the province to take over delivery of all publicly-funded home care. The plan is to begin using the agency in three of the province's local health integration networks in spring 2018, with a full roll-out to all networks planned for March 2021.
NBHC Sustainability