The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority’s move to expand and modernize residential care services is long overdue, but privatizing these services is a big mistake, says the Hospital Employees’ Union.
VCHA announced June 2 that agreements have been reached with private companies to build 600 residential care beds across the region over the next few years. Only 225 of those are additional new beds with the remaining 375 replacing existing capacity in aging facilities.
For example, VCHA announced this week that in 2018 they would shut down the two residential care facilities it operates in Sechelt - Totem Lodge and Shorncliffe Intermediate Care Facility – and contract out those services to a yet-to-be-built privately operated nursing home.
The health authority has told workers at the two facilities that they will be issued lay-off notices in about 18 months.
HEU’s secretary-business manager Jennifer Whiteside says that this is just the beginning of a massive transfer of publicly subsidized residential care to for-profit companies across the region.
“That trend will be accompanied by lower wages and fewer benefits in a sector dominated by women workers,” says Whiteside.
“And our experience has shown that for-profit providers are much more likely to engage in further subcontracting in order to control wages and protect profits.
“Staff turnover in these situations undermines the continuity of care for nursing home residents,” adds Whiteside. “Our seniors and those who care for them deserve better.”