Defend Public Healthcare

ALC issue a crisis to patients, relatives The Sudbury Star Wed Jan 19 2011,Page: A11   Column: Letters to the Editor Re: "ALC a challenge, not crisis" -- Dec. 20. I find it farcical that Denis Roy, the CEO of Sudbury Regional Hospital, says the alternate-level of-care issue is "not a crisis, but a challenge." Anyone who is an advocate for an elderly parent now in the system knows the whole situation is indeed a "crisis" if you're in the midst of living it alongside your parent. It certainly must be a challenging task to address as a health-care administrator, but anyone who is currently advocating for an elderly parent knows, it truly is a crisis. How else do you explain a marked lack of long-term care beds for the very people who built this community into what it is today? They have paid taxes for more than 50 or 60 years and now have to worry continually about where they will live and who will care for them, even as they are facing serious

Ontario media are picking up on the placement of men and women in the same hospital room. "Gender cohorting has become more frequent in the whole province," said Katherine Stansfield, Quite Health Care's vice-president of patient services. "It's not a policy but certainly it has been the practice in the province for some time." She said patients of different genders are placed in the same rooms as needed. "It's not something that is part of regular practice but ... it is a very regular occurrence," said Stansfield. "If there is some concerns we make every effort to move the patient ... as soon as possible." High bed occupancy continues, but with some new twists... dallan@cupe.ca

Most citizens of Peterborough and the surrounding area have been concerned for some time that huge staffing cuts at the hospital will erode patient care. Peterborough Health Coalition (PHC) has now opened a secure mailbox in the lobby of City Hall to collect confidential, accurate examples of declining care.  The Coalition plans to build a case for improvement. This mail box service was apporved by City Council last August. The collection of information will be the sole responsibility of PHC, and not of the City, and will be kept confidential until the authors specifically agree to release the examples for use by PHC on their behalf. The Coalition hopes that the documentation of declining care will help them build their case for adequate staffing at the local hospital. The  media will be kept informed. Roy Brady, Chairperson, Peterborough Health Coalition can be contacted at 705-745-2446.  A editorial dealing with this initiative by the Peterborough examiner is here .  Kudos to t

A Toronto Star story last month provides some useful information on for-profit retirement homes. These homes now take care of patients that, until recent years, were taken care of in hospitals. With hospital cutbacks, more hospital patients will be forced into them.  Here is part of what the Star reported : • The Ontario coroner's office is investigating the suspicious deaths of three elderly residents of a controversial west Toronto retirement home. • The coroner's probe comes after a Star investigation detailed allegations that residents Edith Farrell, 80, and Danny Henderson, 74, died in hospital earlier this year after suffering severe malnutrition at In Touch Retirement Living.  After the story ran, the family of a third resident, 83-year-old Nellie Dineno, came forward with allegations that she, too, had serious health problems that went untreated before her death in late July. • Critics say the government will allow the privately operated retirement homes to accep

The provincial government weathered this recession better than the previous recession in 1990-91. At the earlier recession the deficit topped out in 1992-93 at 4.4% of the GDP (and 22.9% of government spending and 29.7% of government revenue). In contrast, the provincial deficit topped out in 2009-10 at 3.3% of the GDP (and 16.7% of government spending and 20.1% of revenue). It is perhaps also worth noting that Ontario debt interest payments have remained constant as a percentage of GDP since the early 1980s, and have declined as a percentage of revenue. Moreover, the Ontario government has consistently revised its deficit projections downwards since the fall 2009 statement. Indeed, the government has removed well over $5 billion from its estimate of the 2009-10 deficit. Deficits are falling at the federal level.  In the fall 2010 quarterly update, Finance Minister Flaherty said the country's books will continue to improve, with a small deficit of $1.7 billion now forecast by

The 2010 Budget continues the government’s spending on corporate tax cuts, with a reduction in the rate from 14% to 12% this year and 10% next year. The Small Business tax is lowered to 4.5% and the Small Business surtax is eliminated. Here is the government’s comment on this in its media release 3 June 2010 : TAX CUTS FOR BUSINESS Starting July 1, 2010, the government will be providing tax cuts totalling more than $4.6 billion over three years for large and small businesses: • The general Corporate Income Tax (CIT) rate will be lowered from 14 per cent to 12 per cent and then to 10 per cent over three years; • The Corporate Income Tax rate on income from manufacturing and processing, mining, logging, farming and fishing will be lowered from 12 per cent to 10 per cent; • The small business Corporate Income Tax rate will be cut from 5.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent; • The small business deduction surtax of 4.25 per cent will be eliminated. • These tax cuts are in addition to the m

Health care in Ontario is efficient compared to other provinces, and efficient public hospitals are the main way this has been achieved. • Provincial government health care spending in 2010 is $173 per capita less than the other provinces • All of this (and more) is accounted for by spending less per capita than other provinces on hospitals. Ontario spends $262 less per capita than the other provinces. In total that is a saving of $3.5 billion for all of Ontario. • The gap between what Ontario spends and what other provinces spend has increased every year since 2005 when the difference was only $86 per capita. • In contrast with hospital funding, Ontario spends more per capita than any other province on physicians: $192 more per capita than the other provinces. The gap between what Ontario spends and what other provinces spend has grown since 2005 when it was only $126 more in Ontario. • Ontario also spends more per capita on drugs, even a little more than Quebec which is t