PEMBROKE, Ont. — By their own admission and in their own words in comments made recently to local Pembroke media, SteriPro (the company to which Pembroke Regional Hospital has contracted-out the sterilization of surgical equipment) underlines the risky business of outsourcing.

Michael Hurley the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) along with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 1502 president Simone Burger will hold a media conference on Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 9:30 a.m. at 380 Isabella Street, Pembroke. They will review some of the information divulged by SteriPro and what the “revealing admissions” signal for the deal with Pembroke Regional Hospital.

Because the contract is kept secret, only the hospital and SteriPro have all the details about how public money is being used, how the deals are structured and what goes wrong.

In explaining what went awry and why a contract between SteriPro and Trillium Health Partners was terminated early ― six years before the end of the deal ― a SteriPro spokesperson says: “We got compensated a significant amount of money by Trillium to enter into this termination agreement.”

“Quality issues dogged the Trillium contract, we believe. Now we also know that escaping from a bad deal also cost the hospital significantly. This is a quality problem the Pembroke Hospital doesn’t have now and should at all costs avoid and a financial problem that it also cannot afford,” says Hurley.

A recent poll of the Pembroke community found virtually no support for contracting-out surgical equipment sterilization by the Pembroke hospital. 74 per cent said they want the hospital to reconsider its decision to contract-out sterilization of surgical instruments. Nearly 88 per cent of respondents said the hospital made the wrong decision to enter into the contract. 95 per cent said they think that the hospital has an obligation to keep work in Pembroke whenever possible.

For further information:

Michael Hurley
President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions
 416-884-0770

Stella Yeadon
CUPE Communications
 416-559-9300