Our health system relies heavily on Specialized Geriatrics Services (SGS) to meet the health needs of older adults living with frailty. SGS in Central East Ontario is a comprehensive, coordinated system of specialized services that assess, diagnose, and provide interventions to both older adults and their care partners.

Over the last 5 years the health care system experienced unprecedented challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the mass exodus/retirement of seasoned clinicians from Ontario’s workforce, the evolving and ever-increasing health needs of the population in general, all contributing to resource shortages and increased SGS demands. We at Seniors Care Network, wanted to explore the impact of the above-mentioned health system pressures on the Specialized Geriatric workforce, to validate our assumptions, and explore strategies to appropriately address SGS specific challenges through regional efforts.

Seniors Care Network conducted a region-wide Provider Experience Evaluation May through Oct 2024, to achieve two main objectives: 1) attain a better understanding of the overall experience of clinicians/providers while providing specialized care to the older adult population (through a comprehensive 50-question survey and 2) Understand healthcare leaders’ perceptions about current SGS workforce challenges and policy priorities to address these (through structured interviews).

Cumulative findings/results were reviewed to identify and prioritize actionable recommendations for decision-makers at a macro, meso and micro levels.

The key findings of the Provider Experience Survey analysis are summarized in Poster 1, and key recommendations for decision-makers are summarized in Poster 2.