The Ontario Hospital Association today claims that "Ontario hospitals have been a driving force behind the extension of FIPPA (i.e. freedom of information legislation) to their organizations and are embracing the new levels of openness that the legislation is bringing to their organizations."
This is laying it on pretty thick as the OHA, along with the insurance industry, helped secure an amendment from the government earlier this year to freedom of information legislation that allows hospital CEOs to deny requests from the general public for access to an array of information regarding quality of healthcare in hospitals.
As Ontario Health Coalition Director Natalie Mehra observed at the time: “Today, (the government) undid a substantial portion of its own legislation passed last fall to expand hospital accountability in the wake of the e-Health scandal.”
It would be nice to think the hospitals might become more open and transparent, but it is hard to believe. Time will tell.
Hospital workers do not even get the vital information they need when they need it in order to protect themselves, patients and the public from infectious diseases. Especially in view of Campbell's report, one would have thought that the information systems would have been beefed up. There are so many new bugs and communicable diseases, it's appalling to think that hospital workers are still being put at risk in this way. What's happening?
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