Watch the Better Care for Seniors Accountability Assembly

On the evening of October 11, the BC Health Coalition and member organizations hosted Minister of Health Adrian Dix. The strength of the BC Health Coalition and our allies was well represented in that we had over 150 non-coalition organizational guests and 24 coalition member organizations present at the Assembly representing tens of thousands of people. Over 400 people simultaneously gathered at the Assembly to hear stories from seniors, family members and workers who have been impacted by the crisis in seniors care and heard Minister's responses to questions directly related to his mandate in home support and long-term care.

Report Back: How did the Minister respond?

Five storytellers representing seniors, families, and workers in both Home Support and Long-Term Care shared their stories and each asked a question to the Minister. Click on their names below to directly go to their stories in the Assembly recording.

Nola Galloway shared the story of her Family Council investigating discrepancies in direct care hours at their Long-Term Care facility and asked Minister Dix - will you standardize reporting for direct care hours so that staffing levels and ratios can be independently verified and enforced?

Minister Dix responded that there is an upcoming announcement on regulatory changes to ensure a standardization of the role of family councils across BC. He recognized that there is a need to standardize contracts of operators across Health Authorities and to ensure that funding is used for the same things in various types of care facilities. If direct care hours are not being met, health authorities must continue to take back funding. 

He further added that they raised the salaries of virtually all employees in contracted care homes to the Facility Bargaining Association level through a 165 million dollar investment, funded the Health and Careers Access program which have added 6,600 workers to the sector along with the infection control program, and are currently working on a new standardized provincial funding model for better accountability from long-term care homes across BC.

BCHC’s recommendations to the Minister are:

• Reporting for direct care hours must be standardized so that staffing levels and ratios can be independently verified and enforced.

Heather Stuckey shared the story of her mother's experiences in a Long-Term Care facility where there was high turnover in staff due to poor working conditions. She asked the Minister - will you require that all contracted long-term care facilities that receive public money clearly and publicly report revenues and expenditures? And ensure that all surplus funds be spent on the care of seniors or be returned?

Minister Dix responded that they have taken steps to increase the regulatory and legal authority of family councils and taken steps to take over a number of health care facilities in BC, making them public in order to maintain care and regulatory standards. 

He added that they are committed to providing a province-wide standardized funding formula that will increase transparency and accountability and a need to ensure that public money is present on a consistent and high level of care through active, regulatory roles in long-term care homes across BC, especially in smaller communities outside of Metro Vancouver where choice is limited.

BCHC's recommendation to the Minister:

• Require that all contracted long-term care facilities that receive public money clearly report revenues and expenditures to the public and require that all surplus funds be spent on the care of seniors or be returned.

Erna Mendoza shared her story of working in a for-profit facility that used public funds for staffing to make profit while workers were overworked due to short-staffing. She asked the Minister - will you ensure that all facilities that receive public money are required to be a part of a public sector master collective agreement, and to ban exploitative sub-contracting practices?

Minister Dix responded that they have given more power to the BCGEU, HEU, and to other unions in the sector by getting rid of Bill 29 and 94 which led to the worst excesses, and have empowered workers to to defend their rights in the workplace. He cited the 165 million wage leveling investment again, and wants to continue to ensure that the facility bargaining association floor is there for all workers. 

He highlighted the repatriation of workers in public long-term care homes and that this process is ongoing and will continue. Along with the need for a contracting arrangement that increases accountability and transparency, he pointed to addressing short-staffing by increasing hiring to meet current and future demands and that they have brought back into bargaining associations 36% more workers to address the labor shortage in healthcare.

BCHC's recommendation to the Minister:

• Ensure that all facilities that receive public money are required to be a part of a public sector master collective agreement, and to ban exploitative sub-contracting practices.

Margaret Coutts shared the story of her low-income senior friend who was unable to access Home Support to age in place. She asked the Minister - will you make Home Support more accessible by removing the current regulated daily rate co-payment?

Minister Dix responded that they have brought home support and home care in house to increase the number of hours available, even in the pandemic, and are looking at ways to improve home care and home support particularly for people at the margins who feel the impact of copayment the most. He added that he has met with the Seniors Advocate on the issue of seniors moving into long-term care homes due to lack of aging in place support. They are seeking advice on what steps to take to expand the breadth of home support, so that more people can live at home longer and the issue of the co-payment.

BCHC's recommendation to the Minister:

• Make Home Support more accessible by removing the current regulated daily rate co-payment.

Florentina Kelly shared her story of the challenges of working as a Community Health Worker with unstable work conditions and the short-staffing crisis this leads to in Home Support. She asked the Minister - will you address the staffing crisis by increasing the wages of community health workers so they are paid the same no matter where they work and create stable working conditions by guaranteeing hours?

Minister Dix responded that due to repatriation of contracts back into the public sector, the bargaining association in the sector has increased by 36% for home support workers, community and health workers, and healthcare assistants who work in that area. He noted that they have increased spending in home support by publicly funding home support from 488 million to 693 million and that they have opened up the HCAP program to home support adding about 320 workers. He added that while the wage and benefits issue is largely dealt with at the bargaining table, there is no question that we have to give equal priority to this sector and expand it more, which has not happened due to focus on getting staff in long-term care during the pandemic. 

BCHC's recommendation to the Minister:

• Address the staffing crisis by increasing the wages of community health workers so they are paid the same no matter where they work and by guaranteeing hours to create stable working conditions.