Jan 312013
While private care growth is fueled with public money, public care faces bed closures.
from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Guy Smith is calling on Premier Alison Redford to launch a public inquiry into the state of seniors health care and has requested an investigation by the Office of the Auditor General.
"The Premier told us last night that Alberta's budget is stretched to the breaking point, yet the province has handed over $600 million in capital grants, and hundreds of millions more in operating grants, to private seniors health corporations with no public transparency, scrutiny, or accountability. At the same time, beds are being closed in Red Deer, nurses are being laid off in Edmonton, and seniors care employees mark their seventh month locked out at Monterey Place in Calagary. Seniors are paying the price for all this chaos. It's time for an inquiry into seniors care," said Smith.
In the past week, 48 LPNs were laid off at Capital Care in Edmonton, 49 seniors beds were closed in Red Deeer, and 130 seniors health care employees were locked out by Symphony Seniors Living.
"It seems that for every private seniors bed that gets opened, we see a public bed getting shut down. We see it happening in communities like Carmangay, Bashaw and soon, Stettler. It's destabilizing care and eroding public confidence in health care."
Smith notes that Red Deer seniors requiring long term care will now have to look 100 kilometres away for an available bed.
Smith's request for investigation queries whether the government has followed the 2005 recommendations for seniors programs from the Auditor General's office.
"We have a health care system that isn't serving seniors, who are the very people that built this province into the success it is today. It's a shame, and we owe it to them to fix this situation immediately. They shouldn't be forced to wait eight years for an investigation," said Smith.
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