NEWS FILE PHOTO MLA Drew Barnes, along with MLA Michaela Glasgo, say they have heard anger and disappointment from their constituents over the fraction of COVID -19 restrictions being lifted under Phase2 that was announced Monday by the Alberta Government.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
A local MLA says Alberta Health Services needs to provide numbers to determine whether privatization of hospital laundry services and the loss of 25 jobs locally is appropriate.
“I think it is incumbent on the government to be fully transparent, put these costs out front and include everything as to what it will cost,” said Drew Barnes, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat.
Barnes says the closure of the Medicine Hat Diagnostic Laboratory was sold as a way to save significant money, but figures to substantiate this have yet to be made public.
“Many of those tests got sent to Lethbridge or Calgary. We still don’t know today what the true cost difference is,” said Barnes, calling on AHS to be fully transparent.
This week AHS notified the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees of its plans to privatize hospital laundry services and asked for feedback.
AHS has plans to issue a request for proposals this spring, for private companies to provide the service across Alberta and perhaps make the change by November.
AHS says it would cost up to $40 million to update aging laundry infrastructure. The recently released review of AHS by accountants at Ernst & Young says the aging equipment and infrastructure would require an investment of more than $200 million to maintain operations.
Barnes says AHS should have included in the cost of maintenance of equipment and replacement of aging equipment in its annual budgets.
Skeptics feel that the negligence could be seen as a way to show that the huge capital investment requirement now makes it unfeasible and so paves the pathway to privatization.
“I understand where the skepticism would come from,” said Barnes.
E&Y says the same private company provides laundry services for Edmonton and Calgary hospitals but there is a cost difference of 0.34 cents per kilogram between those cities. There is no other information on what it costs AHS to provide in-house services and what the current contractor is charging.
“It’s our tax dollars, it’s our province and we’re entitled to know,” said Barnes.
Not only are the numbers and potential cost savings not being made public, Barnes says as an MLA he is not provided that information.
“I have not been given any figures, but I will be asking.”
Medicine Hat Regional Hospital’s laundry department employs 25 people who would be impacted by a decision to privatize.
“It would be significant and it should only be looked at if there is big clear savings and better service and I doubt that would be the case,” said Barnes, noting people working in MHRH laundry should have an opportunity to present ideas of ways to save money before a decision is made.
The volume of laundry processed at MHRH 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.
