Hospital beds per capita have fallen very sharply in Ontario

At last week's (very successful) Poverty and Health Care conference, A.J. from CUPE Local 1281 asked me how hospital beds per capita had changed in Ontario. My answer is here, as promised:

1980 Hospital Beds = 63,089
1981 Ontario population = 8,625,000
Beds per 1,000 people = 7.31

1991 Hospital Beds = 47,818
1991 Population = 10,085,000
Beds per 1,000 people = 4.74

2010 Hospital Beds =30,810
2010 Population = 13,210,667
Beds per 1,000 people = 2.33

In other words, the number of hospital beds per capita was twice as high nineteen years ago, and more than three times higher 30 years ago.

Hospital delays, cancelled surgeries, ER back-ups, ambulance off-load delays, and higher levels of hospital acquired superbug infections are all part of the 'new normal' in hospitals.

Is it any wonder? This should be an election issue.

Comments

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...

The long series of failures of private clinics in Ontario

For many years, OCHU/CUPE has been concerned the Ontario government would transfer public hospital surgeries, procedures and diagnostic tests to private clinics. CUPE began campaigning in earnest against this possibility in the spring of 2007 with a tour of the province by former British Health Secretary, Frank Dobson, who talked about the disastrous British experience with private surgical clinics. The door opened years ago with the introduction of fee-for-service hospital funding (sometimes called Quality Based Funding). Then in the fall of 2013 the government announced regulatory changes to facilitate this privatization. The government announced Request for Proposals for the summer of 2014 to expand the role of "Independent Health Facilities" (IHFs). With mass campaigns to stop the private clinic expansion by the Ontario Health Coalition the process slowed. But it seems the provincial Liberal government continues to push the idea. Following a recent second...

Defend Public Healthcare

Search This Blog