Canadian Standards for Long Term Care – Update, Opportunities for Input and a CCSMH Report

The Health Services Organization (HSO) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) are each developing national standards for long-term care in Canada.  The HSO standards will address ‘the delivery of safe, reliable, and high-quality long-term care services.’ The CSA standards will ‘address the design, operation and infection prevention and control practices in long-term care homes.’ Below we have listed the links if you wish to share your input on these important standards,

1. The HSO draft standard is open from January 27^th to March 27^th, 2022 for public consultation. - HSO’s standard: https://longtermcarestandards.ca/ - HSO’s public review: healthstandards.org
2. The CSA Group’s draft National Standard for Operation and Infection Prevention and Control of Long-Term Care Homes will be open for public review February 11^th, 2022 - Access the CSA Communities webpage here:  https://community.csagroup.org/community/health-care-safety-and-accessibility/long-term-care-homes - Please note you will need to create an account, if you do not already have one. Make sure that you click on the 'Terms and Conditions" to complete the registration process.

The CCSMH will be reviewing both standards in the coming weeks in order to provide comment.  Our feedback will align with our recent report entitled Supporting Mental Health and Well-Being in Community Residential Care Settings During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond. This document was prepared by us on contract for the CSA late last year. The report summarizes national and international best practices and guidance for the planning, development and implementation of services; education and training, and; policies and procedures on how to support the mental health and well-being of residents in community residential settings across Canada.