Reimagining LTC: Enabling a Healthy Workforce to Provide Person-Centred Care

Reimagining LTC: Enabling a Healthy Workforce to Provide Person-Centred Care (Reimagining LTC) was an initiative that supported quality improvement on these important issues. The program ran from January to December 2023.

 This program aimed to:

• Increase capacity for safety and quality improvement work within long-term care.
• Support long-term care homes to identify, plan and implement changes that will enable a healthy workforce to deliver more person-centred care to residents.
• Foster peer-to-peer sharing and learning among long-term care homes across Canada.

Reimagining LTC Webinar Series

The Reimagining LTC webinar series explores topics related to people in the workforce and person-centred care, with the aim of fostering a more resilient long-term care sector. Hour-long webinars are hosted monthly and feature speakers with expertise in topics related to long-term care.
This new series builds on HEC’s previous webinar series, Next Steps in COVID-19 Response in Long-Term Care.

Learn more

Participating long-term care homes

Through Reimagining LTC, HEC supported more than 230 long-term care homes in all 10 provinces to implement quality improvement projects focused on fostering healthy work environments that will enable safer, higher-quality person-centred care.

Healthcare Excellence Canada partnered with Health Quality BC to provide coaching and additional supports to 79 long-term care homes in British Columbia focusing on the appropriate use of antipsychotic medications.

Areas of focus for participating teams

Reimagining LTC teams implemented a range of diverse projects focused on enabling a healthy workforce to provide person-centred care. Specific areas of focus included:

• Improving care for people with dementia, including helping staff to better understand dementia so that they can provide more person-centred care.
• Strengthening person-centred care, including creating and implementing approaches to deliver care that centres on the person.
• Creating healthy workplace cultures, including staff and workplace assessments, workplace charters and educational opportunities.
• Improving staff well-being with a focus on morale, job satisfaction, stress management and mental health promotion.
• Creating and sustaining psychologically safe and healthy workplace environments, addressing specific aspects of psychological safety or implementing the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace.
• Appropriate use of antipsychotic medications.

What teams received

Teams participating in Reimagining LTC received:

• Funding of up to $10,000 per home
• Implementation and capacity-building support such as coaching, monthly webinars, quality improvement basics workshops and mental health first aid training
• Peer-to-peer learning and connections

The program will enable participating teams to accelerate efforts to align with the new National Long-Term Care Services standard released by the Health Standards Organization, and CSA Z8004, Long-Term Care Home Operations and Infection Prevention and Control, the National Standard of Canada published by CSA Group.

Reimagining LTC builds on earlier programming that supported long-term care and retirement homes to respond to COVID-19 and build capacity to implement quality improvement projects.

Program Results

The Reimagining LTC program was impactful for participating long-term care homes* in various ways, such as:

• Improved 1:1 engagement between staff and residents
• Enhanced ability to create a more home-like environment
• Improved staff engagement and workplace culture
• Increased resident, family and essential care partner engagement
• Better support for resident safety and wellbeing

* All findings are based on 220 final report submissions. The total number of participating teams in the program was 233.

Site-level Outcomes

• The program evaluation found that nearly 100% of participating homes achieved or somewhat achieved their aim, related to person-centred care and/or workforce well-being, during the program period.
  • Teams reported improvements for their staff, such as: increased attendance, reduced turnover, increased staff satisfaction, improved teamwork, increased knowledge and confidence (in handling responsive behaviour, care planning, understanding data, etc.), improved wellbeing, reduced workload, and decreased workplace incidents.
  • Teams reported improvements in person-centred care for residents, including: individualized care planning approaches, new or increased recreational activities, better mealtime experience, home environment improvements, and increased medication review.
• 59% of BC AUA project sites decreased the percentage of residents on antipsychotics without an appropriate diagnosis
• 49% of teams are working to spread their changes to additional sites
• Overall, many teams stated their participation in the Reimagining LTC program strengthened their relationships with team members and residents, offered peer-to-peer connection and learning between LTC homes, and helped them to feel that they are making a difference towards providing meaningful care.