Director Nursing - City of Toronto, Toronto

The Opportunity

The City of Toronto's Seniors Services and Long-Term Care Division is dedicated to supporting Toronto seniors and residents in long-term care homes, ensuring they lead the healthiest, most fulfilling lives possible through exceptional care and services. This division also extends its support to vulnerable individuals in the community through adult day programs, supportive housing services, tenancy support, and homemaker and nurse services. The division is investing in a culture change for its 10 directly operated long-term care homes, branded as CareTO, and operates with core values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence.

As the Director Nursing, you will be instrumental in the oversight, planning, and coordination of resident care. This leadership role involves providing comprehensive management of nursing and personal care services to ensure an outstanding level of resident care, strictly adhering to the policies of the long-term care home and all applicable legislation. This is a vital administration job in Toronto for those passionate about senior health.

Your Impact: Key Responsibilities

In this pivotal role, you will shape the quality of resident care and nursing services across the City of Toronto's long-term care environment. Your leadership will directly influence staff development, operational excellence, and the overall well-being of residents. You will drive a safety culture and ensure professional practice standards are met, contributing significantly to the health and quality of life for seniors in our care.

• Develops and implements detailed plans and recommends policies regarding program specific requirements including standards of resident care and nursing services policies and procedures, using a health promotion approach in planning activities.
• Develops a Human Resource plan for nursing and personal care, with an appropriate mix of registered and non-registered staff to meet the needs of the resident population.
• Ensures the competency of nursing staff; delegates clinical and non-clinical responsibilities to qualified staff in accordance with applicable legislation and College of Nurses of Ontario standards.
• Drives a safety culture supporting strong professional practice and makes recommendations related to evidence-based practice and clinical protocols.
• Provides overall leadership to the recruitment, selection, orientation, training, and retention of nursing staff; communicates nursing values and standards, motivates staff, ensuring effective teamwork, high standards of work quality and organizational performance, continuous learning and encourages innovation in others.
• Supervises the day-to-day operation of all assigned staff including the scheduling, assigning, and reviewing of work. Authorizes and controls vacation and overtime requests. Monitors and evaluates staff performance, approves salary increments and recommends disciplinary action when necessary.
• Develops, recommends, and administers the annual budget for nursing and personal care, and ensures that the unit’s expenditures are controlled and maintained within approved budget limitations.
• Directs the development, implementation and monitoring of resident care plans, programs, nursing care protocols and care delivery systems; researches and implements best practices based on evidence-based care information.
• Directs or conducts research in administrative, nursing, and resident care matters. Monitors the performance of the individual operating units and implements procedural and operational changes as required to improve efficiency and quality of care through Nurse Managers.
• Works closely with other members of the multidisciplinary team and other services within the Home concerning all aspects of resident care and service, to ensure high quality care and service delivery to both groups of residents and individual residents.
• Ensures compliance with the provisions of the Homes for the Aged and Rest Homes Act, Personal Health Information Protection Act and other applicable legislation and the Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care Facilities Program Manual relevant to nursing services.
• Ensures the preparation of all required correspondence, reports, statements, and records. Coordinates material management as related to Nursing and Resident Care.
• Assumes leadership responsibility and supports the development, implementation and maintenance of quality improvement activities, and the objectives, policies, and procedures for nursing services; evaluates the overall effectiveness of nursing services.
• Ensures that nursing assessments, observations and interventions are accurately collected and documented.
• Takes a proprietary role in ensuring historical recording of care and service, communicating with other members of the care team and ensuring that the health record is made available to them as relevant to their responsibilities. Ensures that confidentiality policies are maintained by nursing staff.
• Works co-operatively with other members of the home management team on professional matters and decision making related to resident care and service.
• Facilitates and participates in the development of community partnerships and linkages.
• Acts as a representative for the facility on committees within the community.
• Takes on-call for the nursing service 50% of the off-duty time to manage urgent customer service issues, nursing care needs, nursing staff scheduling needs, infectious outbreaks and risk issues identified within the home over the 24 hour, 7 day period. Shares Manager-on-site duty for weekend representation in the home.

Skills and Experience for Success

To excel in this Director Nursing role within the City of Toronto's long-term care environment, candidates must demonstrate a robust blend of clinical expertise, administrative acumen, and leadership capabilities. Your application should clearly outline how your qualifications align with the following key requirements:

• Extensive experience in nursing management in a long-term care or continuing care/rehabilitation facility.
• Current registration with the Ontario College of Nurses as a Registered Nurse.
• Baccalaureate in Nursing and certification in Nursing Administration or equivalent management experience as per Ontario Regulation 79/10 made under the Fixing Long-Term Care Act. Master’s Degree preferred.
• Considerable experience in supervising, managing, motivating, and developing a diverse workforce in a fast-paced customer service-oriented environment with the ability to interpret and apply employment policies and collective agreements.
• Strong understanding of policies and related legislation or initiatives and their significance and potential impact.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong financial acumen, planning and organizational skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and demands in an environment with high expectations and frequent and competing deadlines.
• Demonstrated commitment to resident safety and quality improvement.
• Knowledge of legislation in Long-Term Care, as well as other government legislation in the areas of labour, employment, health and safety, human rights and provincial standards and classification for long-term care.
• Highly developed interpersonal, public, labour, and human relation skills to build and maintain effective relations and partnerships with all stakeholders.
• Excellent negotiating, conflict resolution, project management, strategic, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Effective decision maker with a track record demonstrating innovation and results oriented leadership.
• Proficient in the use of various computer applications including Office Suite.

Why You'll Thrive at the City of Toronto

Joining the City of Toronto means becoming part of a dedicated team committed to providing the healthiest, most fulfilling lives possible for seniors and long-term care residents. The Seniors Services and Long-Term Care Division operates with core values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence, fostering a supportive and impactful work culture where staff are valued and empowered to provide exceptional care.

The City of Toronto is an equal opportunity employer, deeply committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion. We strive to create an accessible and inclusive organization, offering barrier-free employment practices and accommodations in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). This commitment extends to ensuring all staff can thrive in a welcoming and supportive environment. Please note, as a condition of employment, selected candidates will be required to provide a satisfactory Police Reference Check (PRC) with vulnerable sector screening, tuberculosis screening, and proof of immunization in accordance with the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 (O. Reg 246/22).