Government vs Private
Is Private Home Care better than Government-run Home Care? It could be but it's not a sure thing or more likely. Private home care has the same challenges as Government with fewer standards and less resources.- Government operations must meet strict licensing standards and provide a consistently skilled caregiving service with nursing supervision and support.
- Private home care does not have licensing and comes with large variation in standards and practices.
- Most private home care providers have skilled and unskilled caregivers operating under the same name - less than a third operate with nursing supervision and support - even less of those provide all skilled caregivers.
- Government Home Care wait times may be anywhere from several days to weeks in difficult to service areas.
- Private Home Care wait times are usually minimal but the geography and range of services they provide will be more limited and costly.
- Government Home Care is available on most parts of Vancouver Island and nearby islands.
- Private Home Care is available in urban centers and more populated areas of Vancouver Island. Private services available in rural locations and nearby islands are sparse and limited.
- Private live-in services can be made available almost anywhere on the island but hourly supports become very limited outside of rural locations or come with high travel costs.
- There is no data available or easily gathered to compare government home care and private home care services to health outcomes.
- Government home care provides industry leading education and best practice updates to their employees.
- Private home care varies dramatically in the support and ongoing education they provide for best practice.
- CommunityPlus provides nursing supervision and best practice education updates to our career caregivers and family caregivers.
- Government Home Care normally authorizes service of up to 60 hours per month. When needs justify for more support service can be authorized up to 120 hours per month.
- Government Home Care may authorized more than 120 hours per month for individuals living with intolerable risk.
- Private Home Care normally provides service as requested up to 24 hours per day. Visit minimums and other requirements vary.
- Government home care does not provide light housekeeping (they do provide provide risk reduction decluttering), meal preparation services, assistance with pets or escorts to appointments.
- Most private home care providers do include light housekeeping, meal prep, pet care and errands or escorts to appointments.
- For all providers per WorksafeBC - No lifting over 30lbs, use of hazardous chemicals, climbing ladders or getting on hands and knees.
- Great scheduling and logistics is a critical skill that is difficult to hire and keep. Most operations have one or two very capable schedulers and if they are absent the service degrades as quickly as suboptimal changes are made.
- The entire home care industry, Government and Private, has challenges with their scheduling practices and lack formalized understanding that can be passed on as best practice.
- Hiring and retaining qualified caregivers who are also lovely humans is the next challenge. Government already has the highest wages, benefits and staff retention in the local industry. Private providers must be able to attract and retain high quality caregivers despite government dominance. Who is being hired at $22 per hour and who is willing to stick around at that rate? Do you want underpaid helpers taking care of your parent, partner or self?
- Operational organization and communication is the third part of the Service Experience. Government services have their challenges but they also have clear standards and complaint processes when someone is unsatisfied.
- From surveys, many private providers fail to respond to repeated phone calls, voicemails and emails. It was rare to get someone on the phone who had the knowledge or interest in answering basic questions.
- Government Home Care services are free for qualifying individuals and higher income individuals are charged a sliding scale fee for each day of service.
- Private Care Home costs may be anywhere from: $400 per month for a weekly shower up to $20,000+ per month for daily Live-in (homestay) services or $30,000+ per month for daily 24 hour services.
- Private Home Care services may have additional visit premiums, cancellation fees or other charges that should be considered.
Pro-tip: Government representatives may encourage high income individuals in remote areas to obtain private home care - however, in many remote areas Government is the only care provider with enough geographically local caregivers to provide stable daily service without added travel costs.