Skip to main content

Ontario hospital capacity falls short of other provinces

Rest of Canada has 38% more hospital capacity than OntarioOntario has far fewer hospital beds than other provinces.  Compared to other countries, we are even further behind. 

For the club of the 33 richest nations (the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development), the average is 4.8 hospital beds per 1000 population in 2012 (or the reported year closest to that).  The OECD reports  just 2.74 beds per 1000 population for Canada for 2011.(The OECD data can be downloaded here) 

Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data suggests a very similar average for Canada -- 2.79 beds per 1000 population in 2012. Ontario beds however only come out at 2.34 hospital beds per 1000 population.  For the rest of Canada, it is 3.24 beds, closer to the norm. (The CIHI data can be downloaded here)


In other words,  the rest of Canada has 38% more hospital beds per 1,000 persons than Ontario.   The average of the 33 OECD nations is more than two times higher than Ontario. 


In 1990, according to OECD data, the OECD countries had on average 10% more beds per capita than Canada. By 2000, that had increased to 47% more beds.  By 2005, 71% more.  And by 2012, the OECD countries had 78% more hospital beds per capita than Canada.



OECD countries have 78% more hospital beds than Canada. Sharply up from 1990.


But compared to Ontario, OECD countries had 108% more beds per capita in 2012. 


Despite this, bed cuts are happening all over Ontario as austerity forces cuts in hospital capacity. 


The low number of beds in Canada goes hand in hand with the low number of hospital discharges in Canada -- we have about half the number of the OECD average.  


Unlike other countries, Canada provides universal, comprehensive public provision only to hospital and physician services.  So it is not so surprising that in Canada government especially focus on reducing hospital beds and services.


Comparing the mix of beds: The CIHI data indicates that the mix of beds in Ontario resembles the mix found in the other provinces. Notably, however, the share of acute and “LTC” beds is somewhat lower in Ontario than the rest of Canada.  

As a result, acute beds (medical and surgical beds), fall even further behind: the rest of Canada has 49% more acute beds compared to Ontario.


Rest of Canada has 49% more acute beds than OntarioOntario has far fewer acute care beds than rest of Canada





Some limits on this data: the CIHI figures are current as of April 2012 and the data does not include Quebec and Nunavut.   Note also: the CIHI data refers to only hospital beds used for hospital purposes – it does not refer to residential long-term care (LTC) beds that are sometimes found in hospitals  (presumably CIHI's definition of “LTC” is mostly comprised of complex continuing care beds).  

Comments

  1. I like the valuable info you provide to your articles.

    I'll bookmark your weblog and check again here
    regularly. I'm moderately sure I will be told plenty of new stuff proper here!
    Best of luck for the following!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More spending on new hospitals and new beds? Nope

Hospital funding:  There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities).    For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year.   But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending.  Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th

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. 

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 Medavie Blue Cross with 1,900 employees.  It now a