Why the market is failing to deliver decent care, Jason Ward in Social Europe

CICTAR’s principal analyst, Jason Ward, has published a new research essay in Social Europe examining the failures of corporate care around the world.

The publication examines the corporate model that is replicated across the globe to push for private solutions to the widespread crisis in elderly care.

This research, conducted in partnership with the European Public Service Union and Public Services International, draws on case studies from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the United States.

Employment in long-term care has been growing but its largely female, often migrant, workforce has been subject to severe exploitation. High turnover and chronic staff shortages are exacerbated by low wages and excessive workloads, undermining the quality of care. Rather than funding improvements, private operators of long-term care regularly extract excessive revenues from public funding and private fees. This pattern is common across ownership types: private equity, private business, public company and large-scale not-for-profit. In almost all cases, private operators put business interests—profits or expansion—ahead of quality of care.