Chantelle Management Ltd. has come under fire for handing a valuable contract for the medication delivery business at Sunset Manor and Innisfail Country Manor to a Lacombe company without putting it out to tender.
Some local business owners and family members of residents are angry and confused after the company announced it had made a year-long exclusive deal with Lidia's Pharmacy for the provision of medication and supplies starting April 29.
“It's a fairly lucrative contract in my mind,” said Corina Ryan, a family member of one of the residents, following a question-and-answer session held by Chantelle Management May 2. “It was awarded without prior consultation.”
“They've already signed the contract with Lidia's,” she said. “It's not local.”
In an interview with the Province, Gord van der Eerden, executive director of Chantelle Management, refused to answer when asked why the contract had not been put out to tender. Private companies are not required by law to allow multiple companies to vie for such jobs, and van der Eerden declined to discuss the reasons for the change in pharmacies saying the issue was not publically relevant. The Province was not allowed to attend the May 2 meeting.
In a letter sent to residents and family members April 16, Chantelle Management said sourcing the medication through the Lacombe pharmacy would introduce an automated packaging (PACMED) system to the delivery procedure.
“We are confident that this change to our clinical care model will ensure we meet the Alberta Health Services standards,” the letter said. “This move was necessary to ensure compliance with quality assurance standards. And, this move is supported by Alberta Health Services.”
Tammy McCubbing, area director of Lacombe and Red Deer County for Alberta Health Services spoke at a meeting held April 9 for residents and family members to clarify that while the health authority supports the move to a single medication provider they had nothing to do with the choice of pharmacy.
“We're here to ensure standards are being met and that they're delivering quality care,” she said. "Were there standards that we had to make some changes to meet? Yes."
Shifting to the use of an automated medication packaging system is secondary to the significance of sticking with a single provider, she explained.
“The bigger issue is the consistent delivery system,” she said, noting this helps eliminate errors and improves safety for patients. “As far as this specific pharmacy concern that was brought forward, Alberta Health Services was not involved in any way in choosing the pharmacy nor can we get involved in the preference of the facility.”
Brent Jackson, owner of Jackson's Pharmasave, currently sends shipments to Sunset Manor two or three times a day and has been operating without a contract.
“Typically when a complex is looking to have one pharmacy service they would put out a tender with specifications of what they require,” he said. “That hasn't happened in this case.”
“The tender process wasn't done properly to give anyone a fair chance,” he said. “We could have made it work.”
Jackson agrees that using a single provider would be safer and said it would have been easy for him to rent a PACMED system.
“If all your packaging's the same there's value in that,” he said, noting having uniform medication sheets lowers the chance of mistakes on the part of packaging staff. “It should eliminate errors.”
