OPSEU is urging the Minister of Health to grow a spine after refusing today to investigate problems with recent home care contracts that are adversely affecting their communities.
Health Minister George Smitherman announced a review into the competitive bidding process used by Community Care Access Centres to select home care providers, but refused to stop ongoing request for proposals or to review contracts that are presently creating havoc with home care patients.
“Not only is he closing the barn doors after the cows have gone,” says OPSEU President Leah Casselman of the review, “but he’s holding the door open a little longer to let any stragglers get out too.”
The Minister has repeatedly stated that he would not step in to investigate problematic contracts, such as recent awards in Niagara and Ottawa, because of the legal liability to the companies involved.
“When it comes to a choice between his ethical responsibilities to the community and his legal responsibilities to the corporate world, it’s clear which side he’s chosen,” says Casselman. “The Minister should realize he can do more than hide behind the laws, he can also make them.”
OPSEU recently set up a hotline in the Niagara region after hearing numerous complaints from former VON home care patients. The union wrote to the Health Minister September 17 detailing three examples where the new agencies failed to provide adequate care to patients. The Minister has yet to respond.
“The Minister says he has a legal obligation to these companies, yet where is the legal obligation to provide the service these agencies were contracted to do?” asks Casselman. “The Minister needs to grow a spine, terminate these contracts, and do the right thing for home care patients in this province.”
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For more information contact Rick Janson at 416-443-8888 ext 207
