Defend Public Healthcare

Stats Canada research shows that between 2003/4 and 2009/10 the total number of residents in "homes for the aged" (a phrase  used by Stats Can to mean a range of LTC facilities)  increased from 76,866 to 84,873  in Ontario.  That is an increase of 8,007 residents, or 10.4%.   The number of people aged 85 or over in these homes increased quite a bit more rapidly,  growing by 18.8%. The 85 and over age group are now a majority in the homes. The number of 'approved' beds is increasing more slowly, growing by 7,186 beds, going from 81,849  beds to 89,035 .  That is an 8.8% increase. In fact, the nursing home beds are not keeping up with the explosion in the number of people 85 and over, the main age group in the homes.   As reported a few days ago, the population 85 and over is growing very rapidly -- roughly four times more rapidly than the number of  LTC beds . Contrary to what the Health Minister has suggested , these new nursing ...

Deb Matthews, the Ontario Minister of Health and Long Term Care, has  leapt to the defense of a proposal to contract out hospital jobs in London.   “Every hospital in this province is working really, really hard to get best value for their money when it comes to health care. . . . If we can provide more front-line care, then that’s what we are trying to accomplish.” London hospitals are in negotiations with U.S. health-records giant Cerner Corp. According to the London Free Press about 30 full-time hospital jobs would be cut in London.  New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath, who raised the prospect that patient confidentiality could be put at risk by the US corporation.  Matthews rejected the suggestion arguing “We’ve got some of the toughest privacy legislation anywhere...Every health-care organization here simply must comply with it. I have absolutely no reason to believe this change will, in any way, weaken their commitment to security of p...

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews has confirmed that no cuts to small and northern hospital emergency rooms will occur until at least after new small and northern ER Task Force  reports this spring. "I know that all of the LHINs across the province are going to be very, very interested to see what recommendations come out of this report," Matthews said in the small hospital town of St. Mary's on Friday. "I fully expect that they will not be making any decisions related to emergency rooms until this panel has completed their work."   With an election coming next fall, this is hardly surprising.  After that?  All bets are off, I'd say.     dallan@cupe.ca

Ouch! Health Minister Deb Matthews won't like this. A leading  Toronto Star  columnist, Bob Hepburn, urges Premier McGuinty today to step in and order Health Minister Deb Matthews to fix the mess in home care. ...the McGuinty government is pressuring hospitals to reduce costs. To do that, hospital administrators are slashing the number of beds and pushing patients out the door faster than ever, turning them over to community health authorities. However, cash-strapped Community Care Access Centres, which arrange for support from local health-care professionals, have simultaneously cut funds for all but the most severe cases. These cuts - more than 50 per cent in some areas - have been made suddenly and without consultation.  The dramatic reductions started to show up last fall and have continued to this day. Hardly a day goes by without more layoffs and more reduced workloads for health-care professionals. The result is that patients who need critical services pr...

It's hard to count the number of times Deb Mathews highlights the claim that the Ministry of Health and LTC is providing surgeries closer to home in her short letter on bariatric surgeries that is appearing in newspapers across Ontario today. If you count just the exact phrase "closer to home" it's only twice, but if you add in references to "here at home", "in Ontario", or "in the province" you get  nine hits. (I think. You can count for yourself  here .) While it is admirable that the government is trying to build capacity for bariatric surgery in Ontario (rather than ship patients off to the U.S. of A.), isn't it just a bit rich to hear so much emphasis on moving surgeries closer to home from a government bent on centralizing surgeries, emergency rooms, and other acute care services? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.  More evidence that centralizing services is a weak spot -- and the government kn...

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario is meeting and at least two municipalities are taking this opportunity to raise concerns about hospital cutbacks with the Minister of Health and Long Term Care, Deb Matthews. Lambton County Warden Jim Burns has indicated  that a delegation was to meet with Minister of Health Deb Matthews Monday to discuss recent cuts to the Petrolia emergency room, now closed from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. "It's also a really good opportunity to meet with provincial ministries.  This issue is vitally important to all of Lambton country," Burns said. "It touches almost every municipality. I know the minister is aware of what's going on, but I think it's very, very important to have that face-to-face chat with her." A City of Cornwall delegation led by Mayor Bob Kilger will be pushing for a solution to the Cornwall Community Hospital's bed shortage when they meet with health minister Deb Matthews, the Cornwall Standard Freeholder...

Deb Matthews is staunchly defending the decision to close the emergency rooms in Fort Erie and Port Colborne despite the sharp critique of the LHINs (illegal) consultation process by Andre Marin, the Ontario Ombudsman.  Matthews told Niagara area papers "We're not revisiting that decision. The decision remains the right decision...we're absolutely not going to be reopening that decision."  Obligingly, the LHIN chairwoman Juanita Gledhill said her board doesn't plan to revisit its earlier decisions either.  Big surprise. This does not bode well for other smaller hospitals.  Even in the face of months of community outrage, calls from the opposition parties, and an Ombudsman's report suggesting a phony consultation process, Matthews will not even consider a review of the decision to close the small hospital ERs. Now there's a government official determined to do some damage. So it is interesting to hear that  Port Colborne Mayor V...

Boy, I almost feel sorry for the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).  They are taking a terrible pasting following the Ombudsman's report that exposes their community 'consultations' as a complete scam.  Apparently, one LHIN leader thought conferring with pals at his private golf course (open to anyone who can afford $8000 in green fees) was an acceptable form of consultation. While anyone who has been involved in health care knows the the LHINs do not really consult their communities, I feel pretty confident that the Tories and the right-wingers (who are kicking the LHINs now that they are down) actually prefer "a process that makes no pretence of consultation than a dishonest sham.  Better the honest dictatorship than the faux democracy."  (As, in fact, Christie Blatchford suggested yesterday in the Mop and Pail .) Despite the Ombudsman report, Deb Matthews and the Liberal government refuse to review the closures of hospital emergency...

Remember Peterborough Regional Health Centre?  They were effectively ordered by the provincial government to cut costs.  The result -- 283 hospital jobs (182.3 full time equivalent positions) are being cut, right this minute. Health Minister Deb Matthews has claimed that hospital cuts aren't so bad because there is so much more community care. But the Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) that oversees home care services in Peterborough is in a similar predicament as the hospital.  The CCAC is now reported to have fallen $14 million into deficit over the last two years -- and so it too is cutting costs, right this minute. (Of course, they say they are cutting costs without cutting home care programs and services.  Just like the McGuinty government says it is doing in hospitals.  With probably the same degree of accuracy.) The Mike Harris government professed that hospital cuts would be made up b...

A while back I noted that the Health Minister Deb Matthews suggested the hosptial cuts were ok, because there was so much more care in the community.  Here's some recent comments from the Toronto Star on this issue: But the community sector has not been adequately funded to manage higher demand, said Margaret Mottershead, chief executive of the Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres. And demand is expected to rise significantly as the health system tries to get a handle on what's known as the "ALC problem." ALC refers to an alternative level of care, required by 5,000 patients in Ontario, mostly frail, elderly people who are in hospital even though they don't need to be. They are waiting to be sent back to their homes with visiting home-care support, into long-term care homes or into assisted living environments, such as a seniors' apartment complex with nearby personal support workers. Mottershead says community care access centres h...

Health Minister Matthews claims that the 1.5% 'increase' in hospital funding means that hosptial cuts are not necesary. I guess all the bed cuts, elimination of services, and layoff notices are imaginary. Prediction: unless there is more money found, neither Matthews, the LHINs, nor the hosptials will spend much time reversing cutbacks. The real question is: how much more trouble will this funding level bring?  And what is in the non-base hosptial funding increases? Funding hike could save jobs London News London Free Press dallan@cupe.ca

Our Health minister, Deb Matthews, claims our health care is getting better because we are cutting hospital services, and care in the community is picking up the slack.  Well, here's one person's experience: "Closing of palliative care! This is a farce. You take this away from the aging and sick public then you might as well shut the whole hospital. As it is, the six rooms are not enough. My family was in dire need of palliative care in October 2009 but could not be helped. We needed a member of our family in hospital for the remainder of his days. He was in the hospital when he was told his life was at an end. He wanted and needed to remain in hospital. He was discharged. The doctor in charge of his care told us to take him home. He was told his bed was needed for someone they could fix. How uncaring and rude. How many other poor souls had this same thing happen? How many families have had to watch a loved one die at home because the hospital refused t...

Health minister Deb Matthews said it again!  She told Ottawa media that hospital cutbacks are good for us.  This in a town where the biggest hospital is facing $19 million in cuts under the Liberal's best case scenario.    The rationale is the same as before: home care will save the day.  This is not just the same rationale as last week's, it's the same rationale as the Harris government used in the 1990s when they were ruining hospital services.  But even they had to give it up and fund the hosptials in the late 1990s when community outrage began to peak. I don't think this particular rationale is going to help Matthews much.  It didn't work much in the past, so why is it going to work now?  And from what I've heard, Liberal MPPs are already getting panicky...  dallan@cupe.ca

"When we see hospitals close beds, that's actually in and of itself not a bad news story because so much more care is being provided in the community " -- Deb Matthews Ontario Minister of Health and LTC " Today, home-care funding as a percentage of the total health expenditure is estimated to be less than it was in 1998/99 when it was a 5.43% of the province's health-care expenditures. It is vital that the sector be resourced in order to achieve the results it is being called upon to deliver."  -- Sue VanderBent  -- Executive director, Ontario Home Care Association Hamilton dallan@cupe.ca

A few days ago I noted that Ontario Health Minister, Deb Matthews claimed, "When we see hospitals close beds, that's actually in and of itself not a bad news story because so much more care is being provided in the community " (my emphasis ). It's true the government had reached agreements with the LHINs which anticipated funding increases in 2010-11 of 4.98% for Community Care Access Centres, the organizations which fund home care services. But subsequently the government revised the agreements, and the new documents don't forecast any increase for the home care agencies -- instead they simply indicate that funding will be determined. So is Matthews blowing smoke, or will there be funding for 'so much more care' in the community? We will see. But this wouldn't be the first time government closed hospital services and tried to disguise it by claiming, falsely , that the cuts would be offset by more home care services.

A new line of attack from the Ontario Health Minister, Deb Matthews: cutting hospital beds and Emergency Rooms actually helps your health. "The decision to close - to convert - the two emergency rooms to urgent care centres was a quality of care decision," Matthews said. "It is not a funding cut decision." "When we see hospitals close beds, that's actually in and of itself not a bad news story because so much more care is being provided in the community," Matthews insisted yesterday. When they start saying cutbacks are good, it's probably a sign of things to come. But when we are already at 98% bed occupancy and backed up ERs, the signs are not good. -- Doug