SHA Care Needs Assessment in Saskatchewan: How to Prepare

The care needs assessment is the single most important appointment in your parent's elder care journey. It determines whether they qualify for publicly funded home care, how many hours they receive, and whether they're eligible for long-term care placement. Families who walk in unprepared often walk out with fewer hours than their parent actually needs.

What the Assessment Evaluates

An SHA Client Care Coordinator — typically a registered nurse or social worker — conducts the assessment in your parent's home. The visit usually takes 60 to 90 minutes and evaluates:

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs): Can your parent bathe, dress, toilet, transfer from bed to chair, and eat without assistance?

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs): Can they manage medications, prepare meals, handle finances, use the phone, and maintain their home?

Cognitive function: Memory, judgment, problem-solving ability, and orientation to time and place.

Safety risks: Fall history, wandering behaviour, leaving the stove on, medication errors.

Informal support network: What help does the family currently provide, and is it sustainable?

Documents to Prepare Before the Visit

Have these ready in a folder when the coordinator arrives:

• Saskatchewan Health Services Card
• Complete medication list with dosages, prescribing physicians, and any recent changes
• Contact information for all doctors, specialists, and pharmacists involved in your parent's care
• Diagnostic records — any formal diagnoses, especially for dementia, Parkinson's, diabetes, or heart conditions
• A written log of daily struggles — specific examples are critical (e.g., "found the stove left on three times this month," "fell getting out of the bathtub on Tuesday," "couldn't remember how to take morning medications")

The coordinator can only assess what they observe and what you tell them. Vague descriptions like "she's slowing down" result in fewer allocated hours than specific safety concerns.

Strategic Questions to Ask the Coordinator

Don't let the assessment be a one-way evaluation. Ask:

• "What specific care level has my parent been categorized under?"
• "How many hours of home care per week does this assessment qualify them for?"
• "Does my parent qualify for the Individualized Funding program to hire our own caregiver?"
• "What would need to change for my parent to qualify for Special-Care Home placement?"
• "If we disagree with the assessed hours, what is the appeal process?"

What Happens After the Assessment

The coordinator drafts a formal care plan based on their findings. If home care is recommended, they schedule visits and may arrange adaptive equipment through the Saskatchewan Aids to Independent Living (SAIL) program — items like grab bars, raised toilet seats, and walkers.

If the assessment indicates your parent cannot safely remain at home, the coordinator submits a placement package to the Regional Placement Committee for long-term care approval.

The Assessment Mistake That Costs Families

Parents often put on their best performance during the assessment — tidying up, minimizing struggles, insisting everything is fine. This is natural but counterproductive.

Be present during the assessment and speak candidly about what you've observed. The coordinator needs to hear about the midnight wandering, the weight loss from skipped meals, the medication doses found in the trash. Your honest account is what connects your parent to appropriate care.

If the assessment results in fewer hours than your parent needs, you have the right to request a reassessment. A private geriatric care manager can also conduct an independent evaluation to support an appeal.

The Saskatchewan Elder Care Decision Guide includes a complete assessment preparation checklist and the full escalation process for disputing inadequate care hours.

See more Saskatchewan guides →