Editor:
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has confirmed that Shorncliffe and Totem will close in 2018 (Coast Reporter, June 3). Care for seniors will be transferred to the private sector. I hope and pray VCH does not make the same serious mistakes made in the U.K. over the past 20 years.
The private sector is concerned with a healthy return on investment and cash flow. Time and time again in the U.K., care homes have cut corners in staff quantities and quality to reduce costs. Many have been placed under special measures or closed by their Quality Care Commission. How do two or three members of staff at two in the morning monitor 128 seniors, some suffering from dementia, when they are in private rooms? I know of many U.K. case histories where family members have installed cameras in the private rooms of loved ones and confirmed that they do not receive their medication on time, if at all, and meals are simply left for them to eat unaided. The resources are not in place to properly manage the varied needs of the inmates; 128 private rooms sound fine in theory but they cannot be adequately monitored even at peak times during the day. In the U.K. the National Health Service (NHS) has contracted out many services to the private sector and all new builds and extensions are financed under private finance initiative schemes. Their NHS must now service over 900 million pounds of debt. No more important subject than this.
Get it right, VCH.
Paul Rhodes, Sechelt
