NEWS FILE PHOTO Laundry and linen services at hospitals across the province could be in private hands by November this year, affecting 25 employees at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
The privatization of hospital laundry services is on the table for the entire province, including Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.
Alberta Health Services has notified the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees of its plans asking for ideas and suggestions.
“We are considering the outsourcing of linen services as one of the many opportunities presented in the AHS Review report,” said Mauro Chies, a vice president with AHS.
The Ernst & Young review says AHS currently outsources more than 68 per cent of linen services through six AHS-operated regional processing plants and 44 dedicated on-site facilities.
AHS plans to issue a request for proposals this spring for private companies to provide the service across Alberta.
AUPE vice-president Susan Slade says AHS told AUPE there are plans to make the change by November.
“This is just one more way for this government to hand over our money and assets to already wealthy corporate interests,” says Slade, noting it will have the biggest impact on rural communities already struggling in a tough economy.
When the E&Y report was made public the government promised there would be no closure of rural hospitals, but Slade says the privatization of services such as laundry will have a similar impact. In rural areas health-care services are often the biggest employer. Privatization means more money out of the local economy, she says.
Slade says the AHS letter says it would cost up to $40 million to update aging laundry infrastructure. The E&Y review (page 73) says the aging equipment and infrastructure would require an investment of more than $200 million to maintain operations.
AHS has been negligent in not doing regular maintenance and not regularly replacing aging infrastructure, says Slade, calling it a bad decision that is now affecting peoples’ livelihoods.
“It isn’t fair,” said Slade.
In August 2016 MHRH was singled out as “one of the most troublesome facilities,” with a four-and-a-half month shutdown on the ironing system, a sewer collapse, power supply issues and a roof leak. At the time the aging infrastructure was acknowledged by AHS south zone management.
In January 2018 a report identified MHRH laundry facility as an issue with talk of perhaps sending all the laundry to Lethbridge.
The E&Y review suggests that having the entire province’s hospital laundry handled privately could drive the cost down due to volume.
Slade says it is a dangerous situation to rely on one contractor to provide services across the province. If it does not work out it is not possible for AHS to return to an in-house operation.
MHRH’s laundry services department currently has a staff of 25, made up of full-time and part-time positions and 12 casual staff. The volume of laundry processed varies from year to year but can be up to 1.2 million kilograms every year. MHRH provides linen services to Brooks, Bassano and Bow Island hospitals, some local seniors’ residences in Medicine Hat, Home Care and the residential detoxification centre, according to information supplied by AHS.
AHS says it hopes the interaction with AUPE will identify risks and benefits for various decisions and that this will factor into its final decisions.
“We will consider any potential ideas that AUPE brings forward, before reaching our final decision on the most efficient and fiscally sustainable approach for AHS and Albertans,” said Chies.
