[CUPE healthcare list] Superhospital food under study; Think tank foresees problems; Outsourcing meal service will hike costs, lower quality, new report contends Montreal Gazette

[Irene Jansen <ijansen@cupe.ca>]

IRIS report here:
http://www.iris-recherche.qc.ca/

Superhospital food under study; Think tank foresees problems; Outsourcing meal service will hike costs, lower quality, new report contends
Montreal Gazette
Tue Feb 2 2010
Page: A6
Section: News
Byline: AARON DERFEL
Source: The Gazette

Meals that will be served to patients in Montreal's two superhospitals will probably cost a lot more and are likely to be of poorer quality, a study by a local think tank predicts.

The reason is that meal preparation will be outsourced to private food companies, rather than made from scratch by kitchen staff in the future hospitals, the study by the Institut de recherche et d'informations socio-économiques says.

"It appears we are favouring the subcontracting of meal preparation in the megahospitals without a public debate," said Guillaume Hébert, author of the study.

The study by the independent, non-profit institute recounts horror stories of patients losing weight in hospitals in other provinces where meal preparation has been farmed out to private companies.

It notes that when La Providence Hospital in Magog sub-contracted meal preparation in the 1990s to a private company, Sodexo, costs soared by 30.5 per cent. Once meal preparation was taken over by the hospital, costs fell by nearly 15 per cent over five years.

The study also observes that since the McGill University Health Centre signed a contract with Sodexo for meal preparation at the Montreal General Hospital, costs have gone up steadily.

Officials with the MUHC and the Centre hospitalier de l'université de Montréal disputed the study's conclusions, however, saying the meals to be prepared will meet the highest quality standards.

"First of all, as far as I understand it, we are not committed to continuing to work with Sodexo in the redevelopment project," said Diane Fagan, MUHC manager of communications for the superhospital.

"We have the choice to use whatever food provider we want, going forward."

What's more, the MUHC "remains in charge of our food service. So this sense that things will be privatized to a greater extent is not true."

Fagan noted that in 2006, the MUHC introduced room service and greatly expanded menu choices for patients. An internal survey showed patient satisfaction with meals rose to 92 per cent from 76 per cent.

Lucie Dufresne, a spokesperson for the CHUM, said management of meal preparation in the future hospital will be carried out internally.

"There will be a certain number of prepared products that will be purchased externally, but there will also be food preparation done at the hospital," Dufresne said.

Both the MUHC and the CHUM superhospitals will be built as public-private partnerships. The private sector will build and maintain the hospitals for 30 years - in effect, leasing them back to the government.

aderfel@thegazette.canwest.com

Edition: Final
Story Type: Business
Length: 411 words
Idnumber: 201002020021