Skip to main content

One step forward in Niagara

The Ontario Health Coalition reported today that the Minister of Health and Long Term Care has finally relented and agreed to a review of the (so-called) "Hospital Improvement Plan" in Niagara.  As reported earlier, the Niagara municipal leaders had asked the Minister for a review in April.


The review will only focus on the parts of the HIP that have been implemented -- not those still pending.   The review will involve the Local Health Integration Network, the Niagara Health System hospital, and regional municipal leaders. They will establish terms of reference for the review.  Local municipalities have shown good leadership on the HIP, so many in Niagara will be looking to them to stand strong.  No doubt, community members will work hard to ensure that this is a serious attempt to review the HIP and not a whitewash.


The people in local communities (with the OHC) have fought the closures and cutbacks that came with the HIP tooth and nail.  So this step forward is their achievement.
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 31, 2011 at 8:28 PM

    Niagara is gratified that the systemic problems resulting from the Hospital Improvement Plan will finally get the review requested. It"s been two long years for grassroots organizations, Politicians and even a few daring members of the medical community proclaiming differently.

    It is unfortunate that the Minister did not address a recent request of Niagara Mayors to place a moratorium on further implimentation of the HIP until after the review completion which will no doubt be timed for after the Provincial election.

    The NHS has been included in the review process which is very questionable...The wolf asked to count the chickens in the hen house has never proved to be a wise decision.

    Sue Salzer

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 31, 2011 at 8:30 PM

    Sorry Minister Matthews, but this will not be adequate. We appreciate the review of the HIP, but it must also include strategies yet to be implemented.
    The biggest problem with the HIP is it will move almost all acute and emergency hospital services to the new hospital in St. Catharines.

    Seven surgical specialties will be moved out of Welland hospital under the HIP. These changes will dismantle Welland hospital to the point they will no longer be able to retain a viable 24/7 ER. If you don't believe me, read the Physician's Report prepared by the Welland physicians.

    Once Welland loses it's 24/7 ER patients in the southern tier will have to travel to St. Catharines for most care. In Port Colborne and Wainfleet that trip can take from 45 minutes to over an hour. This will not provide timely or safe intervention access.

    The review must look at the whole HIP.....not just part.

    Pat Scholfield

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Too many public sector workers in Ontario?

Opponents of public services often try to portray the public sector as having grown disproportionately.  In fact, since 1976, the number of public sector employees has not quite kept pace with the population. In 1976, the number of public sector employees in Ontario  as reported by Statistics Canada averaged 830,800.  By 2012, the number had increased to 1,330,700 -- a 60.2% increase.  That sounds like significant growth -- true. But the population has increased  from 8,413,779 in 1976 to 13,505,900 in 2012, a 60.5% increase.   In other words, population growth has run slightly ahead of the growth in public sector employment.     In 1976, close to 10% of the population worked in the public sector.  It stayed pretty much this way until the Mike Harris government came to power when it dipped below 9%.  It returned close to the historical range in the last six years or so, declining in 2012 to below the 1976 averag...
16 comments
Read more

Huge cuts in public sector wages predicted

The Ontario Financial Accountability Office (FAO)   says  that, with inflation, real wages in the public sector will decline 11.3% over the three year period  2021/2 - 2023/4 .  This would radically deepen the trend towards lower wages during the last ten years.   The FAO reports that since 2011, the average annual salary for the Ontario public sector employees (defined here as employees of schools, colleges, provincial government, provincial agencies, and hospitals) has increased by $10,385   -- or 1.6 per cent on average annually.  This is the lowest increase of all the sectors and lower than inflation, which averaged 1.8 per cent per year. Over the ten years that would be about a 2% pay cut.   The FAO reports that wage settlements were the lowest in the provincial public sector over the last decade:   Hospital Wages Especially Challenged: The FAO predicts hospital wages will increase even less than in the public sector  -- just ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more