CUPE fully supports the recommendations in a new report released today by the Hospital Employees’ Union, CUPE’s health care division in British Columbia. The report identifies critical policies that helped the province safeguard vulnerable seniors in long-term care during the COVID-19 pandemic. CUPE is calling on other provincial governments to take an active role in implementing the report’s recommendations to improve working conditions for health care workers and to protect seniors across Canada.
The report, Long-term Solutions for Long-term Care: Analyzing Provincial COVID-19 Responses to LTC Staffing to Improve Working Conditions and Seniors Care, offers an evidence-based blueprint for other provinces to follow. It highlights B.C.’s success in protecting seniors, thanks to innovative measures such as single-site orders, wage standardization, and tuition-free training for care aides. These policies allowed B.C. to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities and stabilize the workforce—something other provinces struggled to achieve.
“This report clearly demonstrates that improving wages and working conditions for health care workers leads to better care and living conditions for seniors. It’s a win-win situation that saved lives during the pandemic,” said CUPE National President, Mark Hancock. “The suffering seniors and their families endured during COVID-19 was devastating, but the tragedy will be compounded if provincial governments in this country do not learn from B.C.’s experience.”
“Despite the fact that it is a critical part of the health care system, long-term care is excluded from the Canada Health Act” said Candace Rennick, CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer. “The federal government has a role to play here. Long term care must be brought into our universal public health care system under a model that ensures sustained federal funding, and establishes national standards with the force of law behind them.”
With Canada’s long-term care population expected to double in the next decade, CUPE is urging all governments to act swiftly on the report’s recommendations.
“B.C. showed us that when governments, unions, and health care employers work together, lives can be saved. This report provides a roadmap to fix long-standing staffing issues in long-term care. Ottawa must work with provinces to fund and enforce these critical reforms to protect the health and dignity of our elders,” added Hancock. “The time for action is now. Canada’s seniors deserve nothing less.”