Long term care facility Dufferin Place, part of Vancouver Island Health Authority.Chris Bush for The Globe and Mail
A private housekeeping firm with a less-than-stellar track record is back in charge of cooking and cleaning at seven Victoria-area health care facilities less than a year after the Vancouver Island Health Authority cancelled its contract for failing to meet performance standards.
Health authority officials confirmed Wednesday that Compass Group Canada, which lost the $10.5-million contract last May, has inked a deal to purchase Marquisse Group, the company VIHA named as Compass's replacement just over a month ago.
"We were surprised, but we always recognize that in the private sector companies get bought and sold," said Joe Murphy, vice-president of operations and support services. "However, we have received assurances from both Marquisse and the Compass Group that they will honour all the terms and conditions of the new contract."
Last May, VIHA announced plans to opt out of its five-year deal with Compass to provide dietary and cleaning services at five residential care homes in the Capital Region, as well as Queen Alexandra children's hospital and Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
The decision followed a string of failed housekeeping audits, disease outbreaks and two WorkSafe BC reports rapping Compass for, among other things, substandard worker training, inadequate staffing and shoddy cleaning practices.
The WorkSafe BC reports focused on an 11-month outbreak of Clostridium difficile at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, where Compass also holds the food and housekeeping contract.
VIHA experts have acknowledged that inadequate cleaning was the main cause of the outbreak, which infected close to 100 people and caused five deaths in 2008 and 2009.
Last May, 10 elderly patients with pre-existing medical conditions died when a mysterious respiratory illness swept through another Compass facility, Victoria's Glengarry Hospital.
In the legislature Tuesday, NDP Leader Adrian Dix called hospital cleanliness "a major problem" in B.C. and said Compass's takeover of Marquisse "shows the absurdity" of the Liberal government's health-care privatization policy.
"They took action against Compass, and Compass is going to get all of those contracts," Mr. Dix said.
However, Mr. Murphy said VIHA's contract with Marquisse contains a range of new provisions to improve cleanliness, including increased housekeeping hours, ultraviolet light testing and the addition of "quick response teams" that are specially trained in controlling infectious disease outbreaks.
Instead of mass-producing meals at a central commissary, all food preparation will be done onsite using fresh ingredients whenever possible, said Mr. Murphy, adding that it's now up to Compass to deliver the goods.
"That truly is what we bought and that is our expectation," he said. "Now, time will tell."
Compass Canada spokesperson Kathy Salazar declined to discuss specific allegations of shoddy service, but hinted that Compass is willing to make improvements. "If there's opportunity to enhance the quality of services you're providing, you always want to be able to do that," she said.
The sale of Marquisse, which holds contracts at 17 B.C. health-care facilities, still requires the approval of Canada's Competition Bureau, which is expected by May 31, Ms. Salazar added.
Compass also holds food and housekeeping contracts at Cowichan District Hospital and Victoria General Hospital. Negotiations to renew the contracts for both hospitals are up for renewal, and Compass is the lead proponent, Mr. Murphy added.
In March, VIHA replaced Compass as the new housekeeping contractor at Royal Jubilee Hospital, a contract the company had held since the Liberal government privatized food and housekeeping services in 2004.
Special to The Globe and Mail