Back in February, the province released the results of a 2019 performance review of Alberta Health Services (AHS) that contained 57 recommendations for changes to provincial health care delivery.
At the same time, the province also directed AHS to come up with a 30-day plan to implement some of the recommendations immediately, as well as a long-term implementation plan. However, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic delayed creation of that plan.
On Oct. 13, Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced the province was pushing forward with the implementation plan, albeit on a more gradual scale.
“While we are still committed to the goals of the review, our global landscape has changed significantly, namely by responding to the (COVID-19) pandemic,” Shandro said.
“I have directed AHS that nothing must compromise this response. This is why we’re only prepared to proceed with a portion of the actions identified in the AHS implementation plan.”
For instance, Shandro said there will be no job losses for nurses or other front-line clinical staff during the pandemic — any staffing reductions must be implemented through attrition or through programs like Operational Best Practices.
While the jobs of nurses and physicians are relatively safe, a number of other services are targeted for privatization. Shandro said he had directed AHS to proceed with previously announced plans to contract out services like laundry and lab services.
“Requests for proposals will be issued before the end of 2020,” he said.
Shandro then pointed out that 68 per cent of laundry services and 70 per cent of community lab services throughout the province are already delivered through the private sector.
As well, Shandro said AHS has also been given permission to develop business cases to contract out services like housekeeping in 2022 and food preparation in 2023.
When fully implemented, contracting out all these services will result in 9,700 full-time equivalent positions — roughly 11,000 jobs in total — being shifted to private sector delivery, he said.
Shandro said he was also directing the AHS board to conduct a full review of all executive positions by the end of the fiscal year with the goal of eliminating a minimum of 100 management positions.
As well, non-clinical and back office operations will also be streamlined, such as making things like inventory management and scheduling of overtime.
Shandro noted that AHS is committed to respecting all collective agreement provisions and other employment terms and conditions, and “will be looking to minimize job losses in these areas.”
Once all these changes are fully implemented, the province will save up to $600 million annually, Shandro said, later noting that every dollar saved will be reinvested in patient care.
“This approach strikes the right balance between the two unprecedented challenges we face as a province: on one hand, the response to the pandemic, and on the other hand, the fiscal reality that we face as Albertans,” he added.
Local impact
Back in February, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) warned that the privatization of laundry services (whose workers they represent) would result in job losses in Athabasca, Barrhead and numerous other communities.
When the Town & Country Today reached out to the AUPE last week, the union stated that 87 northern Albertans are facing potential job losses, including workers in Barrhead and Athabasca.
AUPE vice president Karen Weiers said those who work in laundry and housekeeping services are also front-line workers who do some of the most “dangerous and important work” in hospitals and continuing care centres: disinfecting these facilities to stop the spread of diseases and cleaning contaminated linens.
“(Premier Jason) Kenney and Shandro … clearly think some Albertans are worth less than others,” she said.
Weiers said there is extensive documentation showing privatization costs more money because private entities have to earn a profit on top of continuing to prepare food, wash linens and so on.
She also pointed out that privatizing these services affects not only the workers, but also their families and the communities they live in, as these private vendors are often larger companies headquartered outside of Alberta or even Canada.
“It takes away the money that would have been spent in the communities, whether they buy groceries, whether they buy gas, whether they buy clothes for their children. That's what's going to be lost in the community outside of the jobs for the workers,” she said.
Weiers also blasted the province for “working in the back wings” to eliminate 11,000 jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the health care workers are facing major stress.
“They're working short staffed and over time, they're overworked, they're exhausted and they continue day after day after day, going into facilities not knowing if they're going to come out with COVID themselves to take home to their family,” she said.
While laundry workers are represented by AUPE, community lab services would instead by represented by the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA).
The HSAA was also contacted to determine how many local members could be affected but did not receive a response as of publication deadlines.
However, HSAA president Mike Parker stated in a release that privatization of health care costs more and could very easily result in poorer health outcomes during this pandemic and the next.
“Just days after again praising the work done by our lab professionals, the current Health Minister has targeted the very people he claims are protecting Albertans in his misguided drive to privatize health care,” Parker said.
“Support workers are clearly front-line workers. It takes a team to make health care happen. Doctors and other health care professionals cannot do their work in dirty facilities or in unsanitary conditions.”
Kevin Berger, TownandCountryToday.com
Heather Stocking, TownandCountryToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @HLSox
