By Jeff Nagel - BC Local News
Home support workers across the Lower Mainland and the elderly clients they serve are nervously awaiting changes after health authorities unveiled a huge restructuring of the industry.
Eleven existing agencies with expiring contracts to provide home care service have been winnowed down to four - two for-profit firms and two not-for-profit agencies - that get new 10-year contracts worth a total of $800 million.
For-profit ComCare Canada Ltd. will serve Surrey and Delta, while Bayshore Home Health will provide home care in Langley, White Rock, the Tri-Cities, New Westminster and part of Vancouver.
Two not-for-profit agencies - Greater Vancouver Community Services Society and Community Home Support Services Association will cover Burnaby and most of Vancouver.
A fifth contract was awarded to Abbotsford-based WeCare Franchise to provide supplemental home care over and above the existing service that Fraser Health directly operates in Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, Mission, Abbotsford, Agassiz and Hope.
Officials say the restructuring was not aimed at saving money or reducing service levels - something they deny will happen.
"It's all about quality of service and the ability to step up to the plate," said Lynda Foley, Fraser Health's executive director for home health and end of life services.
She said the agreements provide long-term certainty and sustainability of the industry, which will be important as the population ages and the need for more home care service grows.
"These are big businesses that can do that work," she said.
It's possible some seniors needing help to live at home will end up with different care providers as a result, but Foley predicted any disruptions will be minimal.
Continuity is important because the job is very personal.
Home support workers enter homes and often help clients bathe, eat properly and take their medicines.
"They build a bond or a relationship that's extremely important," said Darryl Walker, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union.
"Because workers are coming into other peoples' homes, people have to feel safe and comfortable."
The sector is heavily unionized, but the shakeup is not expected to eliminate union jobs.
Existing employees and union affiliations are expected to flow through to the winning employers as a result of successor provisions, Walker said.
David Hurford of the B.C. Care Providers' Association said the budget does not appear to provide any significant increase in home support service hours, which he said need to go up to offset reductions imposed over the last couple of years.
"We're still a bit concerned," he said. "We think the number of hours should be going up."
Hurford said projected increases in patients with Alzheimer's in the years ahead mean there will be "incredible increases in demand over the next 20 years."
He also said Fraser Health only went out to tender on the portion of home support that it was already contracting out.
The authority could have saved more money, he suggested, if it had also allowed firms to bid for the existing service Fraser still handles in house.
