PSW staffing for Ontario facilities
Personal Support Workers are the largest part of most staffing requests we take, and the role buyers most often misunderstand. This page explains what a PSW can and cannot do, why the screening behind them matters more than it does for nurses, and how to request them.
PSWs are not regulated by a college — and that changes what you should ask
This is the single most important thing to understand when you buy PSW staffing in Ontario.
RNs and RPNs are regulated by the College of Nurses of Ontario. If we say a nurse is registered, you can verify it against a public register in about thirty seconds.
PSWs have no equivalent regulatory college. Oversight sits with the Health and Supportive Care Providers Oversight Authority, established under the Health and Supportive Care Providers Oversight Authority Act, 2021, whose regulations came into force on 1 December 2024. HSCPOA maintains a public register — but registration is currently voluntary, a decision the Ministry of Health made deliberately to avoid disrupting PSW supply.
What this means in practice. For a PSW, there is no mandatory external body that has verified their training, checked their record, or can strike them off. The agency’s own screening is the control. If a supplier cannot describe exactly what they check and how, there is nothing else standing between that person and your residents.
Sources: HSCPOA registration FAQs; Health and Supportive Care Providers Oversight Authority Act, 2021.
What a PSW can do, and where the line is
Getting this boundary right protects your residents and keeps you out of trouble. It also stops you paying nursing rates for work that does not need a nurse.
| Area | A PSW can | A PSW cannot |
|---|---|---|
| Medication | Remind, prompt, and assist a client to take their own medication where your policy allows | Administer medication as a controlled act, or make a dosing decision |
| Personal care | Bathing, dressing, grooming, oral care, toileting, incontinence care | Anything requiring clinical assessment or judgement |
| Mobility | Transfers, repositioning, walking, mechanical lift use where trained and per care plan | Decide independently that a transfer method should change |
| Observation | Notice and report a change — skin, appetite, mood, confusion, output | Assess, diagnose or interpret that change clinically |
| Nutrition | Prepare meals, assist with eating, follow a texture-modified diet order | Alter a diet order or feed through a tube |
| Wounds | Report skin changes; simple non-sterile dressing where delegated and trained | Assess a wound or perform a procedure below the dermis |
Where a task falls under a controlled act, it needs a regulated professional, or a valid delegation with the training and accountability that goes with it. If your request mixes personal support with clinical tasks, tell us on the call and we will tell you honestly which role you actually need.
Where we place PSWs
Long-term care
Line coverage on days, evenings and nights, sick-call replacement, and vacation blocks. The most common request we take.
Retirement residences
Personal care and companionship in assisted-living and memory-care neighbourhoods, often on shorter shifts.
Hospitals
Constant care and one-to-one observation, discharge support, and unit assistance where PSWs are used in your staffing model.
Group homes and community agencies
Supported independent living, developmental services settings and day programs.
Outbreak and surge
Cohort staffing where you need dedicated workers who are not moving between units.
Private homes
Through our own home care service rather than as facility placement. Home care.
What happens before anyone reaches your floor
The same process runs for every worker, whether they are with you for one shift or six months.
Identity and eligibility
Government photo identification and proof of eligibility to work in Canada, checked against the person in front of us.
Registration verified at source
Where the role is regulated, we confirm current standing directly with the College of Nurses of Ontario — not from a photocopy the candidate supplies.
Police vulnerable sector check
Completed and reviewed before assignment, not after.
References
Spoken to, not emailed. Previous supervisors, not character references.
Health and immunization
Records on file and kept current for the settings we place into.
Training and orientation
AODA, WHMIS, worker health and safety awareness, and workplace violence and harassment, plus site-specific orientation before a first shift.
What it costs, honestly
We are not going to publish a rate card, because an honest one would have too many variables to be useful.
What drives a PSW rate is the shift type, the notice you give, the location, whether it is a single shift or a block, and whether the assignment is nights, weekends or statutory holidays. A same-day night shift in a rural site does not cost what a booked weekday block in the GTA costs.
What we will do is give you a firm number before you commit, and not change it afterwards. The bill rate includes wages, statutory deductions, WSIB, insurance and our screening — there is no separate placement fee layered on afterwards.
Send a real requirement and we will quote against it.
Common questions from coordinators
How much notice do you need for PSW coverage?
Under two hours we match against workers already available and known to your site, and give you a straight answer either way. With twelve to forty-eight hours we can run the full matching process and brief the worker on your unit before they arrive.
Can the same PSWs come back?
Yes, and we prefer it. Requesting named workers who already know your floor is normal and we will hold them for a recurring block where we can.
Do your PSWs have a certificate we can see?
Yes. We verify PSW certification at hire — typically NACC, a community college programme, or an equivalent recognized in Ontario — and we can provide the documentation with the assignment.
Are your PSWs registered with HSCPOA?
Some are. Registration is voluntary in Ontario, so it is not something any agency can guarantee across a whole roster. Ask us about a specific worker and we will tell you.
What happens if a worker does not show?
Call the 24/7 line. We would rather be told at the start of the shift than find out from an invoice dispute later.
Who employs the worker?
We handle pay, source deductions, WSIB and liability insurance for the people we assign. You direct the work on your site under your policies.
Request PSW staffing
Tell us the unit, the shifts and the start date.
Send the site, the roles, the shifts and the start date. We come back with what we can actually cover — including when the answer is that we cannot.
Answered 24/7 on 1-888-507-6236.
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