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

Privatizing services and facilities currently 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, health-care 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 United Conservative Party 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 health-care positions.
United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith said increasing privatization is a “no-win. You end up paying more and getting less.”
The review contends otherwise, pointing to existing system cost savings by using private pharmaceutical services, outsourcing some laboratory tests and a privately run cataract surgery centre in Calgary.
Review lacked patient voices
The review said AHS could save money by hiring more registered nurses full-time, 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.
With contracts expiring March 31, AHS had already approached the bargaining table with a proposal to eliminate days of rest for part-time nurses, which Smith said would be a “very significant rollback” of a negotiated arrangement for workers.
“Compassion fatigue” prompts some nurses to limit their working hours, along with family commitments of the predominantly female profession, Smith said.
Although the review touts surveys and consultations with 1,200 doctors, 27,000 staff and 4,200 leaders, patients’ perspectives are missing from the 100-page report, said Dr. Christine Molnar, president of the Alberta Medical Association. There’s evidence that meaningful improvements in health care must include the people who use the system, she said. She also wanted to see more focus on the wellbeing of health-care workers, which is integral to a well-functioning system.
A potential push for more surgeries in private clinics could be a cost-saver, she said.
“As fiscally responsible Albertans, we need ways to find quality care for less money,” she said.
Alberta Health Services must prepare an implementation plan to act upon the recommendations and deliver it to the health minister by May 13.
Molnar wants to know how government and AHS plan to track and measure the potential effects of changes they make.
“I think this should be transparent to the public,” she said.
jfrench@postmedia.com