New poll suggests long term care will be an election issue | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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New poll suggests long term care will be an election issue

Image Credit: Pikist

A Research Co. poll suggests 79 per cent of British Columbians say long term care home issues will factor into how they cast their ballots in the Oct. 24 provincial election.

The survey, commissioned by the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union and published Sept. 29, found 32 per cent said the issue was very important and 47 per cent said it was moderately important.

“This poll shows that British Columbians not only understand what’s going on in the long-term care sector, they know what needs to be done about it,” union president Stephanie Smith said in a news release.

Conditions in long term care homes have been highlighted in dramatic fashion during the COVID-19 pandemic as the majority of those who died of the disease in B.C. have been residents of such facilities.

The poll focussed largely on the difference between homes operated by for-profit companies versus the non-profit sector with 73 per cent preferring the number of for-profit operations be reduced.

Seventeen per cent of respondents said they followed issues about long term care homes very closely. That number rose to 19 per cent in the Southern Interior.

Another 48 per cent said they followed such issues somewhat closely in B.C. but only 38 per cent gave that answer in the Southern Interior.

The poll was based on an online study of 800 adults in the province from Sept. 22-24 with a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union represents more than 5,000 workers in the long term care sector and launched a campaign in April calling on the province to  end for-profit long-term care in B.C.

The survey results can be seen here.


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