The wording in an external security review report for the Saskatchewan Health Authority has SEIU-West concerned that privatization of security officers may be around the corner, similar to what has happened with laundry services.  The external review suggests looking at options for the staffing of security personnel. Those options would be sticking with in-house delivery, moving to contracted personnel or a hybrid of the two.

SEIU-West vice-president, Neil Colmin, says the current SHA security officers are highly trained and they understand the values and needs of the public health care system. He believes bringing in security people with no background in health care and no knowledge of the facilities would be detrimental. Colmin adds that SEIU-West welcomes the plan to assess the security needs of all of the over 200 facilities across the province. He expects they will find the busier facilities are under served, and the best way to keep everyone safe is to train more in-house officers.

Among its 13-thousand members, SEIU-West represents 100 SHA-employed security officers who work at Saskatoon’s hospitals and the long term care facility, Parkridge Centre. Colmin says they will meet with the government next month to go over the SHA review and to advocate for keeping in-house security officers and hiring more for the busier facilities