The deleterious consequences of privatization and outsourcing for hospital support work: The experiences of contracted-out hospital cleaners and dietary aids in Vancouver, Canada

Social Science and Medicine

Volumn 72, Issue 6, 2011, Pages 907-911

  Zuberi, Daniyal M ^a   Ptashnick, Melita B ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

Author keywords

Canada; Contracting out; Health care support work; Housekeeping; Neoliberal; Privatization; Quality of care

Indexed keywords

HEALTH CARE; HEALTH SERVICES; HEALTH WORKER; HOSPITAL SECTOR; NEOLIBERALISM; OUTSOURCING; POLICY REFORM; PRIVATIZATION;

ARTICLE; CANADA; CLINICAL COMPETENCE; EMPLOYMENT; FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HEALTH SERVICE; HOSPITAL PERSONNEL; HOSPITAL SERVICE; HUMAN; IN SERVICE TRAINING; INJURY; ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; PERSONNEL SHORTAGE; PRIVATE HOSPITAL; SHIFT WORKER; WELLBEING; WORK ENVIRONMENT; WORKPLACE;

BRITISH COLUMBIA; FOOD SERVICE, HOSPITAL; HOUSEKEEPING, HOSPITAL; HUMANS; INTERVIEWS AS TOPIC; OUTSOURCED SERVICES; PERSONNEL, HOSPITAL; PRIVATIZATION; QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE;

BRITISH COLUMBIA; CANADA; VANCOUVER;

EID: 79953093466     PISSN: 02779536     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.12.024     Document Type: Article

References (33)

1. Adams A., Lugsden E., Chase J., Arber S., Bond S. Skill-mix changes and work intensification in nursing. Work, Employment and Society 2000, 14(3):541-555.
2. Alonzo A., Simon A. Have stethoscope, will travel: contingent employment among physician health care providers in the United States. Work, Employment and Society 2008, 22:635-654.
3. Appelbaum E., Berg P., Frost A., Preuss G. The effects of work restructuring on low-wage, low-skilled workers in U.S. hospitals. Low-wage America: How employers are reshaping opportunity in the workplace 2003, 77-117. Russell Sage Foundation, New York. E. Appelbaum, A. Bernhadt, R. Murnane (Eds.).
4. Armstrong P., Armstrong H. Wasting away: the undermining of Canadian health care 2003, Oxford University Press, Don Mills.
5. Armstrong P. Exposing privatization: Women and health care reform in Canada 2001, Garamond Press, Aurora.
6. Aronson J., Neysmith S. Obscuring the costs of home care: restructuring at work. Work, Employment and Society 2006, 20(1):27-45.
7. Camfield D. Renewal in Canadian public sector unions: neoliberalism and union praxis. Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations 2007, 62(2):282-304.
8. Cohen M.G. Do comparisons between hospital support workers and hospitality workers make sense? 2001, Available at:, Hospital Employees' Union, Retrieved 5 Aug. 2009. http://www/sfu.ca/%7Emcohen/publications/labour/Do%252520Comparisons.pdf.
9. Cohen M. The privatization of health care cleaning services in southwestern British Columbia, Canada: union responses to unprecedented government actions. Antipode 2006, 38(3):626-644.
10. Dancer S.J. Importance of the environment in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus acquisition: the case for hospital cleaning. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 2007, 8(2):101-113.
11. Dancer S.J. The role of environmental cleaning in the control of hospital-acquired infection. Journal of Hospital Infection 2009, 73:378-385.
12. Dancer S.J. Control of transmission of infection in hospitals requires more than clean hands. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 2010, 31(9):958-960.
13. Erickcek G., Houseman S., Kalleberg A. The effects of temporary services and contracting out on low-skilled workers: evidence from auto suppliers, hospitals, and public schools. Low-wage America: How employers are reshaping opportunity in the workplace 2003, 368-403. Russell Sage Foundation, New York. E. Appelbaum, A. Bernhadt, R. Murnane (Eds.).
14. Galizzi M., Miesmaa P., Punnett L., Slatin C., The Phase in Healthcare Research Team Injured workers' underreporting in the health care industry: an analysis using quantitative, qualitative, and observational data. Industrial Relations 2010, 49(1):22-43.
15. Gordon S. Nursing against the odds: How health care cost cutting, media stereotypes, and medical hubris undermine nurses and patient care 2005, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
16. Henry B., Taylor M., Dooley K. Investigation of a Clostridium difficile associated disease outbreak at Nanaimo General Regional Hospital August 2008 2008, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Available at:, Retrieved 14 Sept. 2010. http://www.viha.ca/NR/rdonlyres/DD089EA3-E33F-4ED3-AE34-C08975093FEC/0/bccdc_cdad_investigation_report.pdf.
17. Horton S. The double burden on safety net providers: placing health disparities in the context of the privatization of health care in the U.S. Social Science & Medicine 2006, 63:2702-2714.
18. Isitt B., Moroz M. The Hospital Employees' Union strike and the privatization of medicare in British Columbia, Canada. International Labor and Working Class History 2007, 71:91-111.
19. Klevens R.M., Morrison M.A., Nadle J., Petit S., Gershman K., Ray S., Harrison L.H., Lynfield R., Dumyati G., Townes J.M., Craig A.S., Zell E.R., Fosheim G.E., McDougal L.K., Carey R.B., Fridkin S.K. Invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in the United States. JAMA 2007, 298(15):1763-1771.
20. Lee M., Cohen M. The hidden costs of health care wage cuts in BC. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 2005, Available at:, Retrieved 5 Aug. 2009. http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/BC_Office_Pubs/bc_2005/hidden_costs.pdf.
21. Li J., Yang W., Cho S. Gender differences in job strain, effort-reward imbalance, and health functioning among Chinese physicians. Social Science & Medicine 2006, 62:1066-1077.
22. Malone R.E. Distal nursing. Social Science & Medicine 2003, 56:2317-2326.
23. Marmot M. Social determinants of health inequities. Lancet 2005, 365:1099-1104.
24. Messing K. Hospital trash: cleaners speak of their role in disease prevention. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 1998, 12(2):168-187.
25. Pfefferle S., Weinberg D. Certified nurse assistants making meaning of direct care. Qualitative Health Research 2008, 18(7):952-961.
26. Sanchez Bayle M., Beiras Cal H. The people's campaign against health care counter-reforms in Spain. Journal of Public Health Policy 2001, 22(2):139-152.
27. Shaffer E., Brenner J. International trade agreements: hazards to health?. International Journal of Health Services 2004, 34(3):467-481.
28. Sharman Z., McLaren A.T., Cohen M., Ostry A. " We only own the hours": discontinuity of care in the British Columbia home support system. Canadian Journal of Aging 2008, 27(1):89-99.
29. Small M.L. How many cases do I need? On science and the logic of case selection in field-based research. Ethnography 2009, 10(1):5-38.
30. Stinson J., Pollak N., Cohen M. The pains of privatization: How contracting out hurts health support workers, their families, and health care 2005, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Available at:, Retrieved 5 Aug. 2009. http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/BC_Office_Pubs/bc_2005/pains_privatization_pdf.
31. Torrance G. Hospitals as health factories. Health and Canadian society: Sociological perspectives 1998, 438-455. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. D. Coburn, C. D'Arcy, G. Torrance (Eds.).
32. Weinberg D. Code green: Money-driven hospitals and the dismantling of nursing 2004, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
33. Zuberi D. Differences that matter: Social policy and the working poor in the United States and Canada 2006, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.