Health
care providers and
patients are heartened
that the Liberal
government has quashed
the competitive bidding
process in home care,
OPSEU President Warren
(Smokey) Thomas said
today.
Due to
intense public pressure,
the Ontario government
has backed down on its
plan to contract out
home care in Hamilton, a
plan that denied current
providers, the Victorian
Order of Nurses (VON)
and St. Joseph's Home
Care the opportunity to
even bid for the work.
“The
government has been
forced to change its
mind because of the
massive outcry from
patients and health
providers,” said Thomas.
“This is encouraging
news. We spoke and they
listened.”
VON
staff, represented by
OPSEU Local 269, fought
back. OPSEU and allies
held a rally last week,
attended by at least
1,500 outraged members
of the community, to
save home care in
Hamilton.
A local
Liberal MPP told the
media he hadn’t slept
for two weeks because of
the outcry in the
community.
The
government appears to
have heard the message
loud and clear. "We have
advised the
Hamilton-Niagara-Haldimand
Brant Community Care
Access Centre (CCAC) not
to award the contract."
said George Smitherman,
Minister of Health and
Long Term Care, in a
news release today. They
later confirmed this
would halt the bidding
process province-wide.
“The
competitive bidding
process, brought in by
Mike Harris, has badly
harmed patient care and
driven up costs,” said
Thomas. “Good riddance
to it.”
The
Ontario Public Service
Employees Union
represents workers in
community care access
centres across Ontario.
