Defend Public Healthcare

As part of the continuing pre-election hospital funding announcements, the Champlain LHIN has just announced funding for a new satellite thrombosis clinic at Cornwall Community Hospital.   Currently, some thrombosis patients are given an injection in the Cornwall emergency room but then must go to Ottawa the following day to have their blood clot examined.  But with the new system, rather than drive back and forth, they can go to the Cornwall hospital clinic (staffed by a specially trained expert nurse) and see the specialist with The Ottawa Hospital through Telehealth. The LHIN says "The program provides state-of- the-art and accessible care for patients who need timely attention."  Similar clinics has already been established in Pembroke  and at the Monfort hospital, and others are proposed for Hawkesbury and Renfrew.  The project is supposed to save $2 million.   dallan@cupe.ca

While small and rural communities face the threat of a loss of local hospital services, technological development is actually allowing more local access.   Yesterday, the Ontario government announced   that trauma patients across Ontario now have access to a neurosurgeon 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through t he Emergency Neuro Image Transfer System (ENITS).  This  online consultation system allows hospitals to send head scan images to ENITS where they can be reviewed by neurosurgeons anytime, anywhere. Seventy neurosurgeons at 13 neurosurgical centres provide online consultations to 100 acute care hospitals through this system. The government claims that since January 2009, 1,558 patient transfers have been avoided, saving more than $50 million. That sounds a lot better than driving four hours to a regional centre.   dallan@cupe.ca

Small hospitals in Picton and Trenton are losing five hospitals beds to their Belleville parent.  This continues the trend whereby small hospitals (and especially small hospitals that have been forced into mergers with larger hospitals) lose beds and services. The hospital claims the cuts aren't so bad as, while the Trenton hospital will be cut from 33 beds (at 100% occupancy) to 31 beds, the hospital will still have two 'surge' beds. As well, the original proposal was to move 8 beds to Belleville from the smaller hospitals. (Hmmm... I suppose it would be an even better news story if the hospital had originally proposed moving 10 beds from the smaller hospitals.) Meanwhile, the Liberal government continues to announce new money for hospitals, with $4.23 million going to help Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie expand. dallan@cupe.ca

Here's one account of what happens when patients have to travel for hospitals services.    Count Earle Nelson has spent, by his own calculations, more than $26,300 on transportation, parking and passes since 2007 travelling to hospitals an hour or more away three times a week to be hooked up to a machine that keeps him alive. "Not only is it costly to travel but also very stressful and anxiety often happens when weather conditions or other factors cause difficult situations that are detrimental to the well-being of a patient," he said last week. Mr. Nelson was speaking at a special meeting organized by six of his fellow tenants at Campbellford Memorial Multicare Lodge to generate support for people who suffer from renal failure. "The time has come. A dialysis unit must be considered a priority for Campbellford Memorial Hospital," said Mr. Nelson, who told one audience member he receives "a little, but nothing much" in the way of help for his out

Alex Munter, the new chief executive officer of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, has suggested hospitals   in rural communities can become health hubs that bring together services from other providers, thus offering a broad range of health and social services at one convenient location. Following  the announcement by the Eastern Ontario Health Unit that it would move its home to the campus of the rural Winchester District Memorial Hospital, Munter stated :  "In rural communities, hospitals can become health hubs that bring together services from other providers and offer a broad range of health and social services at one convenient location. This is an exciting initiative that further speaks to the Winchester Hospital's innovative leadership in health care."     Coincidentally, OCHU has just submitted its comments on the Rural and Northern Health Care Framework/Plan, Stage 1 Report ,  and has  renewed its call  for hospitals to become hubs for health c

Key findings from a new ICES report on health care services for people in small town Ontario: • In 2009, communities with 30,000 or fewer residents comprised 2,588,144 people—approximately 22.7% of the Ontario population. • Emergency departments were accessible within 30 minutes by car for 97.8% of the population in communities of 30,000 or fewer  people and within 60 minutes for 99.0% of that population. All Ontario communities with a population of at least 5,000 people had access to an emergency department within 30 minutes.  185 communities were more than 30 minutes travel time from an emergency department (131 in northern Ontario and 54 in southern Ontario). Fifty-five communities did not have access to an emergency department within 60 minutes—all were in northern Ontario. (Institutions were defined as having emergency departments if were open 24/7 and were located at hospital sites with inpatient beds.) • Hospitals with obstetrical delivery beds were accessible to 93.8

The transnational corporation GE Healthcare has announced  the completion of a Digital Imaging Repository that connects hospitals and medical centers throughout Southwestern Ontario.  This will allow  26 hospitals in the Erie St. Clair LHIN and South West LHIN to share diagnostic images of examinations. The repository already contains images from 2.7 million exams and will grow by 120,000 new exams each month. These exams can be accessed by acute care facilities in the two LHINs. Greg Reed, CEO of eHealth Ontario, the organization responsible for implementing the Ontario government’s "eHealth" agenda states “Now radiologists, referring physicians and specialists across Southwestern Ontario can view images and results anywhere, anytime using the Southwestern Ontario Diagnostic Imaging Network.” GE Healthcare says "This collaboration enables radiologists to access images that originated in other facilities. Referring physicians can receive patient reports faster. Pa

Under the title of "Improving ER Services In Rural And Northern Ontario," the provincial government has asked "a group of leading health care experts to examine and develop recommendations for improving emergency services in small and rural communities." The new "Emergency Room Task Force" will develop recommendations for emergency rooms in rural and northern areas to adapt to staffing challenges. The government notes:  "minor staffing challenges -- a doctor's unforeseen family emergency or a nurse's unexpected illness, for example -- can impact a hospital's emergency services." The Task Force is certainly high powered: six of the fourteen panel members are either Ministry or LHIN leaders, including two Assistant Deputy Ministers.  The Task Force is supposed to submit a final report to the government in the spring. The government claims that "there have been no unplanned ER closures in Ontario since 2003." What it doe

While the McGuinty government is trying just about everything (short of bricking up the front doors) to stop health care from happening in hospitals, St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry's Bay is trying out a very interesting experiment that is expanding the range of local services available through the hospital. Instead of the usual attempts to close down hospital clinics, the hospital has opened a Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) nursing clinic.  The CCAC used to sponsor a health clinic, but although it was located right next door to the hospital, red tape and bureaucratic obstacles ate up hours of time for patients, doctors and nurses if any referrals were necessary.  The clinic closed in February, unable to sustain itself on low patient volumes. The pilot project in the hospital was launched on June 28 and is scheduled to wrap up on Sep. 12. Reportedly there will then be talks between the CCAC, the hospital, and the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) to