Legislation introduced today, April 7, will require continuing care assistants to register annually to work in Nova Scotia. 

The new Continuing Care Assistants Registry Act will improve workforce planning, recruitment and retention efforts, particularly in the long-term care and home-care sectors. Making the current voluntary registry mandatory is a recommendation of the Expert Advisory Panel on Long-Term Care. 

“Continuing care assistants are an essential and valued part of our health-care workforce,” said Health and Wellness Minister Zach Churchill. “A new, mandatory registry for continuing care assistants will give us more data so we can better plan recruitment, training and retention efforts.”

The legislation will:
— define continuing care assistant 
— provide title protection to use “certified continuing care assistant”
— require annual registration renewal
— authorize the use of data for workforce planning
— allow the Minister of Health and Wellness to designate an administrator
— set out provisions for the administrator to verify an individual has completed certification and been assessed as having met learning requirements
— establish which elements of the registry (i.e. name, status, registration number) must be public
— set out provisions related to compliance 

Regulations to accompany the act will be developed in consultation with stakeholders. The act will take effect once regulations are completed. 

Quick Facts:
— the Continuing Care Assistants Registry Act creates a mandatory registry that will replace the existing voluntary registry 
— continuing care assistants help people of all ages with activities of daily living 
— Health and Wellness funds about 7,000 continuing care assistant positions across the province and certifies about 600 new continuing care assistants per year
— continuing care assistants must be certified by the province; they must show they have completed all course requirements from a licensed education provider and passed the certification exam, or be assessed to have the appropriate equivalencies 

Additional Resources:
— Continuing Care Assistant Program: https://www.novascotiacca.ca/
— Health Care Human Resource Sector Council: https://hcsc.ca/careers/continuing-care-assistant/

Source: Release #notw