Are hospitals investing in support services to fight superbugs?

"The cuts in the 1990s certainly had something to do with the decision to cut support staff because they were not a priority and cuts had to be made. I think we now know it was a mistake and we are starting to reinvest in those basic services."

This is taken from recent comments on hospital acquired infections to the the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology by Senior Scientist, Dr. Michael Schull. Dr. Schull was representing the the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. ICES is an independent non-profit corporation that uses information derived from health administrative records to assess the performance of the Ontario health system. They are, however, funded by the Ministry of Health and LTC.

While there has been some signs of reinvestment, it is far from clear what the ongoing trend will actually be. The government plans to squeeze hospital funding and it would be far from surprising if support services are not sacrificed once again.

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