A couple of pics from the recent OCHU / CUPE Local 2875 rally to stop bed cuts at the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa. It was a great day. (And thanks for the pics to Louis and Local 1974 at Kingston General!) Also -- the People's Healthcare Coalition, has collected more than 5,000 signatures calling for an investigation into what led to the decision to close the emergency rooms at Port Colborne and Fort Erie hospitals in Niagara. "We've had tremendous support so far," Coalition representative Pat Scholfield said, noting she collected several hundred signatures at the Market Square Friday morning. "Our goal is Queen's Park".
Ford government fails to respond to 72% increase in COVID inpatient days, deepening the capacity crisis
COVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221 billion, according to new CIHI data. This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization. Costs for COVID related hospitalizations increased 22.2% in Ontario in 2022/23 from the previous fiscal year, rising from $999 million to $1.221 billion. That rise is particularly notable as the OMICRON spike of late 2021 and early 2022 had passed by the the 2022/23 fiscal year. The $222 million increase in COVID hospitalization costs came in the same year as the Ford government cut special COVID funding and, in fact, cut total hospital funding by $156 million. In total, there were 60,653 COVID hospitalizations in Ontario in 2022/3, up from 47,543 in 2021/2.
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