Defend Public Healthcare

Health Minister Deb Matthews has told the Niagara Falls Review that although the C. Difficile outbreak at the St. Catharines General hospital has (finally) ended, not much is going to change at Niagara's hospitals. Many of the changes introduced to cope with the outbreak -- from restricted visiting hours, increased cleaning and hand washing, and daily staff meetings -- will remain in place. "This is the new normal," Matthews said. Matthews added that it cost the Niagara Health System approximately $1.5 to $2 million to cope with the outbreak.  Maintaining the outbreak measures going forward will cost about $1 million annually, she said. More on the costs of not improving hospital housekeeping tomorrow.

Standing outside the Fort Erie Hospital, New Democrat leader Andrea Horwath    condemned catastrophic cuts to health care including the closure of emergency rooms at the hospital and nearby Port Colborne. The Fort Erie hospital's emergency room was closed in September 2009, just months after the emergency room in nearby Port Colborne was also closed. Horwath was accompanied by the family of Reilly Anzovino, a teenager who died after a car crash in 2009 when her ambulance had to travel 20 kilometres to a hospital because Fort Erie's ER was closed. Her family believes her life may have been saved if the Fort Erie ER had remained opened.  Horwath has promised to re-open the two Emergency Rooms. The Liberals side-stepped the issue on Saturday, according to the Toronto Sun.   Right now, we can only guess and fear. But given the funding plans, cuts to more emergency rooms sounds likely  after the election. 

The newly appointed Supervisor of the Niagara Health System hospital, Kevin Smith, told Niagara This Week that "nothing is off the table" including taking a hard look at hospital restructuring. Smith says his focus is on rebuilding trust and that the location of clinical services and loss of trust in the community are two of the biggest issues he must address. The existing NHS hospital improvement plan called for a major changes in hospital services across the region, including the shut down of emergency departments in two local hospital sites and the closure of the maternity and pediatric wards in Welland and Niagara Falls. The NHS has always refused to revise the restructuring plan and has stuck pretty closely to the government -- but Smith may be able to get some new cash and improve local services. After appointing a supervisor to run the hospital, the government will be forced to take more responsibility for securing an outcome acceptable to local communities. And

Here are some of the comments at a Health Coalition town hall meeting earlier this week about the problems at the Niagara Health System hospitals (as reported by the Welland Tribune ): John Degazio, a former housekeeping staff member at Welland hospital, recalled trying to draw attention to problems with the cleaning of hospital rooms after staffing levels were severely cut in the early 2000s. He said he recalled seeing bed linens that were supposed to be clean, with blood and feces stains on them. "At the end of it all, I was forced to leave (my job) for bringing up stuff that was contrary to people's health," he said. Retired nurse Nancy Gladman said more than a decade ago, before cuts, there were enough beds to isolate patients with potentially contagious diseases. "It's just a mess," Gladman said. "Really, I wouldn't advise anyone to use any hospital in Niagara run by the NHS." Registered nurse Cindy Forster, a Welland region

There is a lesson in the government take-over of the Niagara Health System (NHS) for hospital bosses. The NHS hospital bosses pushed and pushed the so-called "Hospital Improvement Plan" even when the local communities rose up in revolt. Even the Ontario Hospital Association (or at least its CEO) waded in  to fight the plan's critics. The ultimate result? The government, facing an election and even more problems at the hospital (in the form of superbug outbreaks) turned tail and admitted the hospital had lost the confidence of the community. (Duh!) First, the hospital CEO was removed  by the hospital board in January, then the government announced in May  it would allow a review of the Hospital Improvement Plan, and now the government is putting the hospital under a supervisor. Will the hospital board be next? The government will push hospital leaders to do their bidding without complaint, but can those hospital leaders count on back up when the going get

Sue Matthews, the interim CEO of Niagara Health System is doggedly sticking  to her earlier statement that she will not to ask the province for more cash to deal with the superbug problem at the hospital. No doubt this approach  is appreciated by the government.  But it doesn't sit well.   Scores of patients have been infected with C. Difficile (or other superbugs).   A significant number of those patients have died.   The expert report on the C. Difficile outbreaks at NHS recommended the  "i ncreases in housekeeping resources put into place during the outbreak should be maintained permanently." And now the St. Catharines Standard reports t he "outbreaks have come with pointed criticisms, including a report from the Ministry of Labour, over insufficient training of NHS staff coping with the infectious bacteria."

The new expert   report   from an Infection Control Resource Team (ICRT) on the C. Difficile outbreak at the Niagara Health System (NHS) makes a number of significant recommendations, including 11 concerning environmental cleaning at the NHS.   Housekeeping The report notes that additional "housekeeping resources" have been brought in during the outbreak to increase the frequency of cleaning and that unit aides have been brought in to assist with environmental cleaning.  It adds: " These aides, in addition to increased and dedicated  housekeeping staff, play a fundamental role in maintaining environmental cleanliness and  both of these enhanced resources should be maintained over the long term ."  The report makes three recommendations on housekeeping staffing: Increases in housekeeping resources put into place during the outbreak should be maintained permanently so that high risk units can maintain twice daily cleaning and dedicated hou

A great letter in the Niagara newspapers from Pat Scholfield, a community health care activist in Welland.  On Sunday, July 10 I watched and listened to the news as once again we were told about the  C. difficile  problems in hospitals across Ontario and they told us the latest death toll across the entire province to date was 24. Our local papers report 20 people have died in Niagara Health System (NHS) hospitals in cases linked to  C. difficile . The NHS has definitely more than its share of  C. difficile  deaths. Then Ontario Minister of Health Deb Matthews came on the screen and with a sweet smile told us to wash our hands. Come on Minister Matthews, Niagara has a much more serious problem with  C. difficile  than washing our hands. Is there a relationship between the serious  C. difficile  outbreak across Niagara and the implementation of the HIP ( hospital  improvement plan) by the NHS where huge cuts have been made to beds, frontline staff, cleaning staff, depart

The total number of Niagara hospital beds (excluding West Lincoln hospital) was 1,315 in 1995-96 (this includes 149 at the former Hotel Dieu general hospital and 124 at the Shaver which became the Dieu).   Facility Acute Psychiatry Rehabilitation Chronic 1995/96 1997/98 1995/96 1997/98 1995/96 1997/98 1995/96 1997/98 Niagara-on-the-Lake 18 9 - - - - 20 11 Douglas Memorial 50 39 - - - - 25 25 Port Colborne General 50 36 - - - - 30 24 Shaver - - - - 22 22 102 102 West Lincoln Memorial 62 45 - - - - 16 16 Welland County General 159 141 16 16 - - 139 77 Greater Niagara General 173 173 29 29 - - 48 48 H ô tel Dieu 149 119 - - - - St. Catharines General 223 201 26 26 - - 36 36 Total 884 763 71 71 22 22 416 339 Now, there  are  only 926 beds: 787 at Niagara Healt