Privatizing health care will cost more: union

EDMONTON Privatizing services and facilities run by Alberta Health Services as recommended in a report released Monday will cost more and could deteriorate the quality of patient care, worker groups say.

Health-care workers’ union leaders warned Monday that contracting out surgeries, hospital food service, housekeeping, laundry, security, laboratory testing and more will lead to bigger hits to government coffers down the road. Those options, along with selling some long-term care homes and leasing space to private pharmacies in health facilities, were among 57 recommendations consultant Ernst and Young said would improve Alberta Health Services’ efficiency.

Companies answer to shareholders, not patients, and the need to generate profit drives up the cost of delivering services, said Susan Slade, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. The union represents about 50,000 Alberta health-care workers, including licensed practical nurses, healthcare aides, housekeepers, clerks and maintenance workers. “There’s corners cut. The services aren’t necessarily of the highest quality,” she said. She said the $2-million AHS review, commissioned last year by the UCP government, had a predetermined outcome, as evidenced by similarities with the recommendations of a 2019 blue-ribbon panel tasked with studying Alberta’s finances.

In November, the government also gave unions notice it was preparing to eliminate up to 7,400 public sector jobs by 2023, including a possible 4,900 healthcare positions.

United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith said privatization is a “nowin. You end up paying more and getting less.”

The review said AHS could save money by hiring more registered nurses fulltime, rather than part-time or casually, and eliminating designated days of rest for part-time nurses.

Smith said many nurses who work part-time are called in to work extra shifts to cope with short staffing. The agency could reduce costs by filling vacant jobs in a timely fashion, she said.