Workers Fight for Human-Centred
Alternatives
Ontario Nurses Oppose Damaging Changes to Home and Community Care
 
July 22-24, 2020. ONA actions against Ford
government's attacks on health care workers.
The Ontario Nurses Association (ONA), on
February 17, wrote to
Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister
of Health, on behalf of
419 of the 517 care coordinators of the Central
East Local Health
Integrated Networks (LHINs) for Durham Region,
Haliburton County and
City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County,
Peterborough
City and County, and Scarborough, on the
subject: "Protect home and
community care -- save care coordinator jobs."
The ONA represents
68,000 Ontario nurses and it continues to sound
the alarm about
regulations related to Bill 175, the Connecting
People to Home and Community Care Act, 2020 passed
last July which seriously
jeopardizes the quality of organizing and
delivering care in local communities.
 When the ONA made
a written submission to the Standing Committee
of
the Legislative Assembly on Bill 175 on June 15,
2020, it raised
serious concerns about the legislation and the
accompanying
regulations. Of particular concern was the role
of care coordinators
who are their members, whether or not those
members would have their
employment (including compensation, pension and
union representation)
automatically transferred to the new Ontario
Health Teams (OHTs) from
the LHINs.
They also raised concerns about the role of
care coordinators in the
new system, whether the intent of the
legislation was to open the door
for private home care contractors to manage
their own care
coordination, and whether some of the care
coordinators would be
excluded by the new requirement that home care
assessments be performed
by
a regulated health professional (some current
care coordinators are
social workers, for example, a profession not
part of the Regulated
Health Professions Act). The regulations speak
of "care coordination
functions" and do not even use the term "care
coordinator" and state
that Health Service Providers would be
responsible for care
coordination
"and would have the flexibility to assign care
coordination functions
to contracted providers or, through mutual
agreement, to partner
organizations."
Below are excerpts from the letter the ONA sent
Minister Elliot on February 17:
"Given the crucial role that care coordinators
play in reducing
hospital overcrowding and ensuring dignified and
quality care for
clients at home and in the community, we
urgently ask that you change
the regulations under Bill 175 to ensure they do
not threaten our care
coordinator jobs. [...]
"Bill 175's regulations jeopardize care
coordinator jobs by strongly
suggesting our jobs will either be cut entirely,
as they are currently
structured, or privatized to for-profit health
service providers.
Transferring our jobs to profit-making home care
corporations would
mean lower pay and benefits and poorer working
conditions, while the
profit-margins of the corporations prosper. It
also poses a clear
conflict of interest if the corporation
delivering the care is also
responsible for determining the amount of care
that is approved. If
this transition proceeds, it risks sparking a
major retention crisis
among the ranks of care coordinators, as our
colleagues seek to
preserve pay and working
conditions by moving to hospitals or other
public sector jobs. No one
can afford this, least of all the clients who
depend on our full scope
and experience as care coordinators. [...]
"We ask that you amend the provisions in the
regulations under Bill
175 to guarantee the protection of care
coordinator jobs and the
continuity of vital care for their clients."
This article was published in
Voluem [volume] Number 9 - February 22, 2021 - No. 9
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08091.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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