Toronto Star
To the editor:
Re: Home Care Pioneer Loses Its Way
Carol Goar has raised many excellent points
about the failure of the present home care system.
Health Minister George Smitherman has
repeatedly said he favours evidence-based decision-making,
yet there has been no evidence to support the insistent
claims of vested interests who wish to see competitive
bidding continue.
There is evidence that competitive bidding
has been toxic to the recruitment and retention of nurses,
therapists, social workers and home support workers –
especially amid present shortages.
Last December our union interviewed nurses
likely to lose their jobs at the Hamilton VON after it was
announced their agency was no longer in the running to
continue providing care in the community.
Many expressed fatigue with the constant
state of uncertainty they faced.
They noted that changing employers would
mean going back down the salary scale, starting over with
minimum vacation, suffering pension loss and losing other
important benefits to their families.
One nurse said that she had come to Hamilton
after the VON lost the nursing contract in Niagara. Now she
was faced with starting over a second time in four years.
Almost all said they would never return to home care again.
Roy Romanow called home care the next
essential services. It is a cost-effective alternative to
hospitalization that patients actually prefer. With
Ontario’s hospitals sliding into debt, the Health Minister
should recognize he can’t empty beds when nurses,
therapists, social workers and support workers are leaving
home care in droves.
This time he can’t just tinker with the
system. It’s time the government look at alternatives that
will make working in home care a viable career option again.
Warren (Smokey) Thomas
President, Ontario Public Service Employees
Union
