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Showing posts from March, 2011

Three largest hospitals in northwest latest to declare bed crisis

The Thunder Bay Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph's hospital in Thunder Bay, and the  Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora  have now all declared a bed crisis,  making patents in those hospitals first in line for any long-term care home beds that become available.   These three facilities are the latest in a series of overloaded hospitals in the province that have reached the "1A" bed crisis designation.    The crisis designation aims to help those hospitals reduce their bed occupancy.   Last week the Miner News reported that  the Lake of the Woods District Hospital has 26 Alternate Level of Care beds occupied, with half awaiting long-term care beds.   St. Joseph's has 38 beds full with almost 40%  (15) awaiting long-term care. The Ontario Health Quality Council is critical of the North West LHIN's use of LTC beds. The  Council continues to disparage the use of long term care beds to help deal with the hospital overload problem, arguing that  Ontari

More opportunities for expanding small and rural hospital services

As part of the continuing pre-election hospital funding announcements, the Champlain LHIN has just announced funding for a new satellite thrombosis clinic at Cornwall Community Hospital.   Currently, some thrombosis patients are given an injection in the Cornwall emergency room but then must go to Ottawa the following day to have their blood clot examined.  But with the new system, rather than drive back and forth, they can go to the Cornwall hospital clinic (staffed by a specially trained expert nurse) and see the specialist with The Ottawa Hospital through Telehealth. The LHIN says "The program provides state-of- the-art and accessible care for patients who need timely attention."  Similar clinics has already been established in Pembroke  and at the Monfort hospital, and others are proposed for Hawkesbury and Renfrew.  The project is supposed to save $2 million.   dallan@cupe.ca

Creeping hospital privatization -- one more step

Bluewater Health hospital in Sarnia is reducing the laboratory tests it does for outpatients. The Observer reports that as of April 1, hospital lab services in Sarnia will only be available for outpatients that require testing for cancer care, dialysis, or an emergency.  Most will have to go to for-profit labs instead. Arlene Patterson, president of the Sarnia-Lambton Health Coalition, said the move is a budget-saving exercise and another step into the privatization of health care.

An empty Conservative health care promise?

Ontario Progressive Conservative health critic Christine Elliott  says a "We intend to maintain health care funding"  and would put savings from the closure of LHINs into front line care.   Responding directly to a charge by Liberal M.P.P. Lou Rinaldi that a local family health team and community health centre might be shut under a Conservative government, she said there would "absolutely not" be any family health team or community health centre closures. She added that a Conservative health care policy package will be unveiled soon, but refused to divulge any elements of it at this time. This is less than it appears. With a growing and aging population, rising drug costs, and inflation, no one is seriously contemplating cutting health care funding.  So promising not to cut funding doesn't mean very much.   And there was no word from Elliot on hospitals. The last Conservative government cut hospital funding (and shut hospitals).   dallan@cupe.ca

114% increase in Hamilton EMS Code Zeroes

A staff report going to Hamilton's Emergency and Community Services Committee next week will report 94 Code Zero events in 2010 - where one or less ambulances  are available to respond to an emergency.  This is an increase from 43 in 2009, 66 in 2008 and 44 in 2007, according to the Hamilton Mountain News. In other words, a 114% increase in 2010 over 2009.  As noted earlier,  there are concerns that hospital restructuring (where the McMaster emergency room will  close to adults) will make the matters worse by requiring more transfer time. OPSEU paramedic president Mario Posteraro told the News : " The elastic has been stretched and will break, unless there is an infusion of needed dollars. "  Forced overtime and missed meal breaks are already pushing Hamilton paramedics to their limit, and patient service could suffer with the added pressures expected after the restructuring on April 4, according to Mr. Posteraro. dallan@cupe.ca

Public sector wage settlements fall behind private sector settlements (and inflation)

The Ontario Ministry of Labour reports that private sector collective agreement settlements in 2010 were a little higher than public sector settlements, with settlements seeing an average annual wage increase of 2.1% in the private sector versus 1.9% in the public sector.  In Ontario, consumer prices rose 3.3% in 2010.  For the month of January 2011, the public sector settlements were somewhat higher than the private sector settlements, 2.0%  versus 1.8%, according to Collective Bargaining Highlights   January 2011 . But the number of members covered by the private sector settlements was small (6 settlements covering 2,022 members), so it may not be a sign of any trend.  

Tim Hudak and the demise of the LHINs: Real change or rhetoric?

For some time, Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak has called for the demise of Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs). In some ways, this echoes the call from labour unions and community health care advocates.   Here's what Mr. Hudak said about LHINs in Coburg the other day: " This is basically a bloated layer of middle management that gets between the Ministry of Health and the doctors and nurses and the patients they are trying to care for.... People at the  LHINs , they have never spent a minute with patients... friends that's  wrong  and that is why as premier, I will close doors on the  LHINs  and put every penny into care for Ontario families. " While Mr. Hudak's emphasis on the bloated layer of bureaucracy squares with a right wing take on public services, it has very little to do with reality.   The amount of money spent on the LHINs is puny compared to the real costs of health care.  And, in any case, those dollars cannot act

Are superbug infections declining in Ontario hospitals?

IN  response to a CUPE media conference on superbugs, Nipissing Liberal MPP Monique Smith pointed out that hospitals are now required to report superbug infections. She said  improved   tracking of infection rates has produced the lowest infection rates in years, with the rates of infection going down all the time. Which is an odd claim because the government only instituted superbug reporting (after CUPE had spent years campaigning for it) in August 2008 – a mere two and a half years ago.  And it’s odder still because the government’s own data proves no such claim.  The  MRSA rate is where it was when the government started reporting;  the C. Difficile rate for January 2010 through January 2011 (0.301)  is very slightly lower than the 2009 average (0.305) , but the January 2011 rate is actually higher (0.34).  The VRE rate continues to be reported as 0.00, with few cases reported (only 8 in all hospitals from October to December 2010).  But, as reported here earlier , the Ott

Another day, another hospital funding announcement

This time it's $4.2 million for Woodstock General.  The Ontario government is now claiming it is investing $149 million for new hospital services.  Such special, 'new service' funding is now almost equal to the total global hospital funding increase  announced at the start of the fiscal year  for all hospitals .  There may well be more as the election approaches.

Hospital overcrowding: no ambulances for emergencies in Waterloo

What next? Waterloo Region Emergency Medical Services (EMS) will tell Waterloo Council today that ambulance "off-load delays" at hospitals have resulted in periods where not one ambulance is available for emergency calls.  This has happened between 6 and 17 times a month since July, with these 'code reds' lasting between 14 and 26 minutes.    The complete absence of ambulances is a 'first' according to the Waterloo Record .    Some first.    Worse, the EMS Director reports that the situation worsened in January and February: " The situation is  deteriorating. " The problem has to do with hospital overcrowding.  As in many other parts of the province, EMS paramedics must wait hours to discharge their patients to the Region's three hospital Emergency Rooms.  The Emergency Rooms are often backed up because they cannot find hospital beds for their patients.    Last year, this  resulted in 5,790 lost  ambulance  hours in Waterloo, the eq

Tenfold increase in payouts for British superbug infections. Whither Ontario?

The number of patients awarded damages  after being infected with hospital superbugs  rose tenfold  last year in Britain. The increase in payouts meant that last year’s total outstripped the previous three years combined, pushing the total for damages and associated legal fees to more than £4.2million. The leap in settlements follows official ­figures which show that  nearly a tenth of all patients , more than 300,000, who enter British hospitals acquire an infection there.  It also follows claims that thousands of patients were dying because the Health Service had “taken its eye off the ball” on many types of infection. One might wonder the same for Ontario. Read more on the British story  here  . dallan@cupe.ca

One step forward: government opens public hospital beds in Windsor

The  Essex St. Clair Local Health Integration Network has agreed to move up funding for twenty new complex continuing care beds at Windsor Regional Hospital to help deal with the city's hospital bed crisis.   This $2 million solution sounds better than forcing all the 'excess' Windsor patients down the highway to a  Leamington for-profit retirement home, as threatened earlier .   The LHIN reports that hospital occupancy in Windsor has fallen  to 100% since the bed crisis designation three  weeks ago.  " We ... have fewer patients waiting in emergency and fewer cancelled surgeries. " And, in not entirely unrelated news, Mississauga's two hospitals (Credit Valley and Trillium) have received more than $25 million in additional operating  funding  from Queen's Park to help them provide services in their recently-completed redevelopment spaces.  So, the (pre-election) hospital funding announcements continue...  dallan@cupe.ca 

14% premium payment to privatize hospital surgeries stopped, for now

The British public sector union, UNISON, is claiming a victory over a health care “privatisation tax”, after the Conservative-Democratic government withdrew plans to allow private companies to be paid more than public hospitals for delivering the same services. The plans would have allowed private companies to get a premium for delivering services to patients, as a way of expanding for-profit provision of publicly funded hospital care.   Government documents suggested that this premium could have been as high as 14% more than the public hospitals get.  Ontario has begun to introduce some "fee for service" funding (sometimes referred to as "patient based funding") for hospital procedures -- and this fee for service funding is the basis for the British experiments.  But so far there are no reports that the Ontario Liberals are interested in paying a premium fee for service to encourage the privatization of surgeries and diagnostic tests by for-profit corporation

Windsor bed crisis, now Kenora: "The ministry refuses to deal with the fact that this is unethical."

The Lake of the Woods Hospital has now received "1A crisis designation" as it has up to three patients daily occupying temporary beds in the hallway of the emergency department. Officials are already calling for the extention of the two-week designation that allows the 11 patients awaiting a long-term care bed to receive priority when beds open at the home of their choice. "It's inappropriate that acute care patients are lying in cots in the emergency room," said hospital chief of staff Kerry MacDonald. "The current situation creates the worst of both worlds but we're obligated to be complicit in this unethical situation. The ministry, to date, refuses to acknowledge or even deal with the fact that this is unethical. They talk about the need to comply with the law. The law is poorly written." Strong words. dallan@cupe.ca

Just wash your hands? Does MOHLTC superbug slogan shift the blame?

A new US study indicates that hand contamination by the MRSA superbug is as likely to come from touching environmental surfaces in hospitals as from touching the patient's skin.   Infection Control Today reports that the risk of any gloved-hand contamination after contact with the skin sites and the environmental surfaces was not significantly different (40 percent versus 45 percent ). There was also no significant difference in the number of colony-forming units per gloved handprint after contact with skin and environmental sites . The most frequent skin and environmental sites associated with hand acquisition were the abdomen or chest and the call button, respectively.   The study authors suggest that "healthcare workers need education regarding the importance of the environment as a source for hand contamination." They also note that "because MRSA may survive for long periods on surfaces, our findings reinforce the importance of environmental disinfection

Technological change enabling MORE care in rural hospitals

While small and rural communities face the threat of a loss of local hospital services, technological development is actually allowing more local access.   Yesterday, the Ontario government announced   that trauma patients across Ontario now have access to a neurosurgeon 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through t he Emergency Neuro Image Transfer System (ENITS).  This  online consultation system allows hospitals to send head scan images to ENITS where they can be reviewed by neurosurgeons anytime, anywhere. Seventy neurosurgeons at 13 neurosurgical centres provide online consultations to 100 acute care hospitals through this system. The government claims that since January 2009, 1,558 patient transfers have been avoided, saving more than $50 million. That sounds a lot better than driving four hours to a regional centre.   dallan@cupe.ca

Ontario privatized P3 hospital -- 3 minute video

An interesting video  on the privatized P3 hospital in Brampton from Operation Maple.  

Hospital overcrowding: 50 to 70 cancelled surgeries per month in Ottawa. And elsewhere?

Yesterday, the Ottawa Citizen reported a record outbreak of the VRE superbug at the Ottawa Hospital due to hospital overcrowding.   Today the Ottawa Sun reports that 982 Surgeries were postponed in 2010 with  50-70 elective surgeries cancelled at the Ottawa Hospital each month for the last six months. Ottawa hospitals had an average 98.9% occupancy rate from Dec. 11, 2010 to Feb. 4, during the height of the flu season.   That is only slightly higher than the the province-wide average  -- for all of 2010.   So, the problems in Ottawa are likely present elsewhere.   dallan@cupe.ca   

Hospital overcrowding leads to record number of superbug cases

360 cases.  That's a new record of cases for the antibiotic resistant superbug VRE at the Ottawa Hospital. It is a sevenfold increase from the fifty cases last year at the same hospital.  In fact, this is a very large number of cases at any hospital  for this sort of superbug   .  The Ontario government reports that for October 1 to December 31, 2010 there was a grand total of eight cases of VRE in all Ontario hospitals.  That's a a rate per 1,000 patient days of 0.00 .   VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci) is less well known than other superbugs like C. Difficile or MRSA, but it is of particular concern.  Reportedly, it is the first  strain of clinically important bacteria that is resistant to all available antimicrobials. Like many other facilities, the Ottawa Hospital blames overcrowding for the outbreak.   Overcrowding at hospitals hampers housekeeping efforts to keep up with cleaning and puts additional strain on nursing staff, who have to keep up with meti

Small hospitals continue to lose. This time in Picton and Trenton

Small hospitals in Picton and Trenton are losing five hospitals beds to their Belleville parent.  This continues the trend whereby small hospitals (and especially small hospitals that have been forced into mergers with larger hospitals) lose beds and services. The hospital claims the cuts aren't so bad as, while the Trenton hospital will be cut from 33 beds (at 100% occupancy) to 31 beds, the hospital will still have two 'surge' beds. As well, the original proposal was to move 8 beds to Belleville from the smaller hospitals. (Hmmm... I suppose it would be an even better news story if the hospital had originally proposed moving 10 beds from the smaller hospitals.) Meanwhile, the Liberal government continues to announce new money for hospitals, with $4.23 million going to help Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie expand. dallan@cupe.ca

Conservative Leader will 'fix' interest arbitration process

"A Tim Hudak Ontario PC government will fix Ontario’s broken arbitration system by bringing more transparency and accountability, providing clear time frames, and ensuring that public sector agreements reflect the ability of families to pay the bills" This today on the Progressive Conservative Party's web site.   Hudak added:   “Arbitrators thumb their nose at the province and hand out rich wage increases to the public sector, while municipalities are forced to keep pace. The system is broken. A PC government will work with municipalities to fix it and ensure public sector contracts reflect Ontario families’ ability to pay.” Hudak has taken some (modest) swipes at public sector workers before, but this is definitely another step on that road.   Without the right to strike, hospital workers are required by law to settle contract disputes through interest arbitrations.   dallan@cupe.ca

It's raining cash

In the last week over $23 million in new funding for hospitals in North Bay and Ottawa has been announced by the Liberal government. With the end of the end of the province's fiscal year on March 31, and the provincial election in the fall, this is perhaps the best moment to get some special funding. Most of the hospital funding increase announced in last year's provincial budget was not in the global funding increase for all hospitals, but (rather mysteriously) set aside for special announcements like these. I'm betting this will continue in this year's upcoming provincial budget. dallan@cupe.ca