Ontario long-term-care homes get new training window through 2026-27 growth fund

Ontario long-term-care homes can use new 2026-27 workforce-development funding to pay for customized training tied to infection prevention, nursing, environmental services and dietary roles. The International College of Infection Control Professionals is pitching role-based education plans as homes decide how to spend their allocations.

Why it matters: - Ontario’s Supporting Professional Growth Fund can help long-term-care homes pay for staff education that directly affects resident care and day-to-day operations. - The funding can cover more than tuition, including backfilling staff, learner travel and accommodation, and in-house training costs for eligible employees. - Role-specific training can make it easier for homes to match spending to the work nurses, personal support staff, housekeeping teams, dietary staff and clinical leaders actually do.

What happened: - Ontario announced up to $15.5 million in base funding for the 2026-27 Supporting Professional Growth Fund on Aug. 21, 2026. - The Ministry set the rate at $15.99 per eligible bed per month for the period April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027. - The International College of Infection Control Professionals is asking eligible long-term-care homes to request customized education packages aligned with IPAC priorities, workforce roles and available funding. - Homes can browse the College’s long-term-care courses here or email info@icicp.com with the subject “SPGF Education Package Request.”

The details: - Under the funding policy and each home’s Direct Funding Agreement, eligible expenses can include course fees, backfilling staff during training, reasonable learner travel and accommodation, and costs for eligible staff who provide in-house training. - The policy applies to eligible employees whose work has a direct impact on residents, including nurses, personal support staff, allied health professionals, housekeeping staff, cooking staff, medical directors, attending physicians, nurse practitioners and directors of nursing. - A proposed expense must support an eligible employee and improve that employee’s ability to perform a primary function. - The College’s long-term-care catalogue lets homes build role-based learning plans instead of buying the same course for every employee. - Current options include IPAC Lead/Backup Orientation, an IPAC Champion pathway, focused nursing education, and IPAC essentials for environmental services and dietary teams. - Organization-level planning can combine self-paced courses, cohort access and live or structured rollout options based on operational needs. - Selected nursing topics include CAUTI prevention, preventing sepsis in older adults, targeted antimicrobial stewardship, wound care and multidrug-resistant organisms, pneumonia prevention, and fungal-infection prevention in wound care. - The environmental-services and dietary courses each carry one Infection Prevention Unit. - The IPAC Lead/Backup Orientation carries 10 IPUs. - Many listed activities have received activity-specific approval from the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology for IPUs, and the applicable value is listed on each course page. - CBIC IPU approval for the IPAC Champion pathway is pending. - Kamyab Ghatan, founder and chief academic officer of the International College of Infection Control Professionals, said the fund gives long-term-care homes a chance to plan education around the work people actually do.

Between the lines: - The College is positioning its courses as a practical way to convert protected funding into training that matches specific job functions rather than generic staff development. - The funding policy leaves the final reimbursement decision with each long-term-care home, which means administrative documentation and eligibility checks still matter. - CBIC IPU approval is separate from Ministry funding eligibility, so homes may need to evaluate both reimbursement rules and professional-credit value. - The College’s role-based format could appeal to operators trying to stretch limited allocations across multiple sites or departments.

What's next: - Long-term-care homes will decide how to allocate their 2026-27 SPGF budgets within the policy period that runs through March 31, 2027. - Homes interested in a tailored plan can contact the College to build education packages for one site or multiple sites. - The Ministry’s reimbursement requirements remain the responsibility of each home, including confirming eligibility, documenting decisions, reporting and staying within allocation limits. - The College says course requirements, delivery format and any applicable IPU value are listed on each relevant course page.

The bottom line: - Ontario’s workforce fund opens the door for long-term-care homes to pair reimbursement-eligible spending with targeted infection control and clinical training that is tailored to each role.