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May 2, 2016 by cupe227 Premier Stephen McNeil wants to privatize health care in Nova Scotia. This will cost us more and we will get less. We cannot afford this. Add your voice to tell the Nova Scotia Liberals “Public Health, not private wealth!”

June 6, 2014

Nova Scotia is continuing the transition to one provincial health authority, appointing an administrator to lead the province's nine district health authorities, beginning July 1.

MICHAEL GORMAN PROVINCIAL REPORTER Published February 19, 2015

Nova Scotia’s health minister says union propaganda, not government legislation, is what’s leading some nurses to take early retirement.

Last week it was revealed Capital Health is paying to bring in up to 12 out-of-province travel nurses to keep open three intensive-care unit beds at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, a move necessary due to a recent spike in retirements.

The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, CUPE Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union, which together represent about 26,000 health-care workers, have teamed up to fight what they say is the province’s attempt to privatize some health-care services.

Earlier in the day, the province announced it had hired Ernst & Young, at a cost of almost $100,000, to provide recommendations for reducing health-care costs.

The consulting firm will examine 13 administrative and support services for three months and then will provide recommendations on how to run six of those services more efficiently.

How to register for Law Amendments on McNeil Govt's Bill 1 CUPE members can call 902-424-8941 to register to appear. We encourage as many of you as possible to register. They will call you if you are chosen to appear.  This could start as early as tomorrow, but as soon as the bill passes Second Reading. NOTE: The four health care union leaders have asked for a meeting with Health Minister Leo Glavine today to clarify his comments about Bill 1 and the unions' proposed Bargaining Association.

MEDIA RELEASE: Unions Seek Clarity on Minister’s Recent Comments Leaders of the four health care unions affected by Bill 1 have written to the Minister of Health & Wellness this morning, requesting urgent clarification on his recent comments that government would accept a model of collective bargaining that would see the lead union in each of the four proposed bargaining units conduct bargaining on behalf of all employees in that sector.  “Minister Glavine’s comments seem to suggest that government would allow each of the four Unions to continue to represent their current membership,” says Rick Clarke, President of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour.  “These public comments appear to contradict what is contemplated in Bill 1.”  The Union leadership, therefore, has requested an urgent meeting with the Minister today to discuss how to reconcile his public comments with the legislation and to explore in detail the exact nature of his proposal. All of the union leaders are currently at the legislature and available to meet.

Letter to Liberal MLA's from CUPE acute care members Dear __________________, provincial MLA: I am writing as a CUPE member in health care who is very upset about Premier Stephen McNeil’s plans to take away my fundamental rights as a union member. I already belong to a union, and for the premier to say in the media that health care workers do not care who represents them is completely wrong.  My union and others worked hard to come up with a solution that gets our bargaining to four (4) contracts from 49. Why won’t he work with the unions instead of against us? Why is he rejecting outright the Bargaining Association proposal put forward by all four unions, which has been working fine in B.C. for many years now?  You need to know that if you and your party legislate me into a bargaining unit chosen, not by me, but by Stephen McNeil, I can assure you that I will never vote Liberal again in my life! You can also tell Justin Trudeau that means Liberals both provincial AND federal.

MICHAEL GORMAN PROVINCIAL REPORTER Published September 11, 2014 - 8:00am

Unions representing workers in Nova Scotia’s health-care system propose to continue representing their respective members but bargain collaboratively for provincewide deals in four categories when a new provincial health board takes effect. Discussions between the unions and the Health and Wellness Department have been ongoing as the province works toward introducing legislation for the merger of nine district health authorities. With Province House set to resume sitting Sept. 25, both sides have observed an information blackout as the legislation’s introduction looms.

Arbitrator James Dorsey released his decision on the labour relations structure under the Health Authorities Act today, Jan. 19. A copy of the Health Authorities Act Mediation-Arbitration Decision can be downloaded in PDF format. Nova Scotia is moving to a health-care system with two employers, the IWK and the new provincial health authority. Health-care leaders believe a streamlined labour landscape is essential for patient care.

Cape Breton Post Fri Aug 15 2014

A provincial database of serious in-hospital patient safety incidents is now available online, but the numbers are not broken down for specific regions like Cape Breton. Between Jan. 1 and June 30, there were 27 such incidents across the province. The types of incidents reported include an adverse health event associated with a surgical procedure leading to patient death or serious disability, pressure ulcers being acquired by a patient after admission to a facility, and a fall at a facility leading to patient death or serious disability.

The online database was officially launched Thursday and it details the type and number of incidents but does not identify patients, providers, healthcare facilities or district health authorities involved in each. Tony Kiritsis, spokesman for Department of Health and Wellness, said keeping the data at a provincial level helps ensure the patients involved are not easily identified. "We have to balance the public reporting with the privacy and confidentiality of the patients," he said. In preparation for the online publication of serious incidents, health-care professionals at district health authorities across Nova Scotia and the IWK Health Centre began providing information on patient safety incidents in late December.

The NDP government has no plans to allow Capital Health to contract out food services, even though it loses money consistently, Health Minister David Wilson said Thursday.

Authority officials also said they’ve asked the government for the last three years to allow them to contract out food services

last March’s announcement to merge health authorities’ administrative services

August 15, 2016

Much-needed projects stalled as funds are deferred The provincial government is being accused of wrongly taking money out of a cash-strapped health care system. Tory MLA Alfie MacLeod Monday accused Premier Stephen McNeil`s Liberals of stalling urgently needed health care projects in the province.

“Shortchanging Nova Scotians requiring medical care or kicking equipment costs down the road is no way to manage health care in this province,” said MacLeod in a media release Monday.

Here are the documents related to the four health care unions’ proposal to the McNeil Government on a new bargaining model for acute care. For a quick summary read documents 1 and 2. CUPE has been represented in these talks by Acute Care Co-ordinator Wayne Thomas, Regional Director Jacquie Bramwell and CUPE NS President Danny Cavanagh. There will be a telephone town hall on Tuesday, September 16 at 7pm on this issue. If you don’t receive a call by 7pm, you can call in at 1-888-987-3602. Contact you local union to find out more.

Rally held to oppose Public Service Sustainability Act

Dec 16, 2015

A Fredericton company says it’s investing $5 million to open a private medical clinic offering ultrasounds and advanced CT scans in Halifax. Atlantic Medical Imaging is selling access to what it calls a revolutionary CT scanner, the Aquilion One Vision by Toshiba Medical.

“If the public system wants to utilize our services, we could do that through the public system where the public pays for it. We pay for the infrastructure and the operations,” said Instrum

September 19, 2014

The provincial government has announced plans to provide a new computerised tomography (CT) scanner for Inverness in Cape Breton at a cost of about $1.5 million. Unfortunately, just as the community was set to obtain its long-awaited scanner, a private, for-profit company has offered to “donate” a $3 million scanner. Even if the extra bells and whistles on the more expensive machine actually would benefit the health of the people in the area (and there is some doubt about that), this particular “gift” is worth careful scrutiny. A closer look shows how this kind of public-private partnership can waste huge amounts of health care dollars under the guise of lowering costs.