Defend Public Healthcare

Ontario proposes radical overhaul of hospital funding - The Globe and Mail Attached is today's Globe story on the proposed system of compulsory contracting for hospital services that the Star reported on last week. Here's something from the hardly surprising department: they are already paving the way for the idea that the new funding model will not save money. When a compulsory contracting model was introduced to home care, costs actually went up (to the market price, a government report rationalized). It also, of course, led to the wide-spread elimination of community-based not for profit organizations by for-profit corporations. The tail end of the Globe story indicates that Ontario has the second lowest hospital costs per capita across Canada (just slightly higher than Quebec). But why not mess with a winner?? Even the OHA says the system wouldn’t work for smaller communities; that makes me think the government may make some attempt to mitigate the destabilizi

Hospitals face push to compete for cash - Healthzone.ca In contrast to the previous pre-election period -- where the Liberals briefly made nice with public health care advocates -- they appear determined to go in the opposite direction in this pre-election period. On long term care, they want to 'review funding' so as to increase the flexibility of the operators (many of whom are for-profit). Other than the operators, who called for this? Indeed, there are widespread calls that they actually require operators to ensure minimum staffing standards, rather than just throw cash at them. Now, they are seriously investigating changing hospital funding to a market based price system, almost certainly opening the door to for-profit health care (and the threat for local communities that they will lose services with every new round of contracting). Even Mike Harris didn't dare give the corporations such a blessing (and local communities such a curse). Are we seeing a turning po

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

They are cancelling elective surgeries in Ottawa this week, as two big hospitals have a lot more patients than beds.  Health care officials, as usual, talk of "perfect storms" and point the finger at various non-political causes (gastrointestinal outbreaks in nursing homes gets special mention in this case).     But the obvious factor that the media almost always misses is that the goverment forces all hospitals to have dangerously high occupancy levels. 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.