Skip to main content

"We told ya so!"

A darn good letter on the McGuinty government's  introduction of the LHINs from local CUPE hospital activist, Paul MacDonald. It was published yesterday in the Toronto Star

Paul -- yes -- public sector union and community activists did do a pretty fair job campaigning on the problems associated with the LHIN model, and did so pretty much right from the get go.  And YES, it is nice to see that at least some of those problems are becoming more apparent to a broader section of the population now.

So a thanks to all the local union and community activists who got the ball rolling! -- Doug



LHIN system should be scrapped; Secret health unit meetings 'illegal,' Aug. 11

Toronto Star, Sat Aug 14 2010 Page: IN7 Section: Letter

Re. Secret health unit meetings

'illegal,' Aug. 11

Not only should these secret LHIN board meetings be deemed illegal, the entire system of LHINs should also be deemed illegal.

When an unelected, unaccountable board of overpaid bureaucrats, accountable to the health minister and themselves, decides to close hospitals in private - when in the recent past this was done in the open at board meetings - it smacks of irresponsibility, elitism and sneaky underhandedness.

Prior to the inception of this mess, public sector unions and coalitions of health care groups warned of the inclusiveness and secretivity of the LHIN boards. All I can say in that respect now is, "we told ya so!"

Paul MacDonald, Etobicoke

© 2010 Torstar Corporation

Length: 116 words; Ad Value: $2,832; Circulation: 641,445







Comments? dallan@cupe.ca

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...

The hospital crisis: No capacity, no plan, no end

While Canada has achieved universal public healthcare coverage, that does not mean conservative forces have given up trying to erode that coverage and expand corporate care where it does not currently exist. The battle has become particularly intense in Ontario under the Ford Progressive Conservative government, which is implementing serious cuts to the level of care and moving to bring in for-profit mini-hospitals. Inadequate Staffing.   Less and less of hospital spending is on staff.   Employee compensation as a share of hospital expenditures has consistently shrunk in Ontario. This is not some immutable law of hospital development.  It is in stark contrast with the rest of Canada, where compensation has become a larger share and now accounts for 67.1%. Hospitals in provinces other than Ontario now have 18 percent more staff per capita than hospitals in Ontario. Overall, if Ontario had the same staffing capacity as the other provinces and territories, there would be another...

Paramedic Services in Canada: Structure, Privatization, Unionization and other issues

Governance and Funding :  While police and fire services are usually municipal services, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are typically controlled by provincial governments.  In Ontario, regional municipal governments have responsibility for delivering and funding EMS.  But even in Ontario the province plays a key role, strictly regulating EMS, providing funding for 50% of the approved land ambulance costs, and paying 100% of the approved costs for air ambulance, dispatch, base hospitals, First Nation EMS, and for territories without municipal government. Delivery :  Like police and fire services, EMS is predominantly a publicly provided service in Canada.   But businesses have now made some significant in-roads into EMS, primarily  Medavie,  a private corporation based in the Maritimes that describes itself as not-for-profit.  Medavie goes back over 70 years, with its roots in health insurance.  It still operates Medav...