UCP wastes chance to fix a broken system by rewarding failure
EDMONTON – The UCP government has condemned generations of Albertans to unnecessary suffering with today’s announcement that funding for continuing care will prop up a system that has failed, says the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).
“The COVID-19 pandemic has proved that our continuing-care system is broken and that residents and patients, mainly seniors, have paid the price with their lives,” says Mike Dempsey, vice-president of AUPE, which represents more than 90,000 workers, including about 58,000 in health care.
“Instead of fixing continuing care, the Alberta government has chosen to continue with exactly the same model that has led to so many pandemic deaths,” says Dempsey.
“It is abundantly clear that the private model of care does not work. It provides lower quality of care because it puts profits and expenses ahead of patient care,” he says.
“Our current system encourages private operators to cuts costs, cut staff and to charge more for services. It has also created a system where operators refuse to hire staff full-time on fair wages, forcing workers to take multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet. This has been an important factor in fighting the pandemic.”
AUPE has called for all continuing care to be brought under the public health umbrella, so adequate standards can be maintained and Albertans can see where their money is being spent.
“Front-line health-care workers do their best no matter who their employer is, but we have seen that they are better able to do their jobs, to care for vulnerable Albertans, within a public system,” says Dempsey. “There is no reason why seniors and others in continuing care should be treated as second-class citizens in health care. Their care is essential and should be treated as such.”
He adds: “Alberta needs to expand care and create new capacity, but it needs to fix what’s wrong. Spending money to prop up a failed system, and rewarding those operators who have failed, is unconscionable. Albertans deserve better – and their lives depend on it.”
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AUPE vice-president Mike Dempsey is available for comment.
For more information, please contact Terry Inigo-Jones, communications officer, at 403-831-4394 or t.inigo-jones@aupe.org.