Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune
Friday, November 2, 2007
Re: Hospital location switched
Peace County Health chairman Marvin Moore says he doesn't care if Grande Prairie's new hospital is owned by Albertans, or a private business.
He should.
P3 hospitals are a mistake. When the choice is made to turn over control of such a crucial public service, whether it is through the privatization of the ownership, operations, or maintenance, the results are consistent: lack of transparency, reduced quality of patient care, and long-term higher costs. P3 hospitals, schools and recreation centres have been tried across Canada with very little success. In the UK, P3 hospitals have seen a 30 per cent reduction in the number of hospital beds and a 25 per cent reduction in clinical staffing budgets.
These decisions keep the shareholders happy, but are not in the best interests of the community.
Our province had the good sense to scrap a P3 hospital it was considering for Calgary three years ago. I know the same good sense will prevail in Grande Prairie now.
D'ARCY LANOVAZ
President - CUPE Alberta