Defend Public Healthcare

We said Friday in our media release that Ontario had fewer acute care beds per capita than any other developed country – except for Mexico.   That was based mostly on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data we had available at the time (which reports figures only for countries as a whole). I have had a chance to look more closely at the numbers and, in fact, Ontario has FEWER acute care beds per capita than any developed country INCLUDING MEXICO! Ontario has 18,355 acute care beds (2010 report) and a population of 13,210,677, for a ratio of 1.39 beds per thousand population.  That ratio is down from 2009, when we had 18,773 acute care beds and a ratio of 1.42 beds per 1,000 population.   In 2008 we also had a ratio of 1.42.    Mexico, which has the lowest ratio of any developed country as a whole,  has 1.6 beds per thousand (OECD  report  for years 2008 and 2009). This, of course, makes our case for more hospital beds  stronger .  We truly are

Here is an account sent to me by an Ontario nurse of her experience with contracted out support services in her hospital.  I've removed the name of the company.  "I just learned that  if something is not mentioned in the (company) contract, the company does not have to do it.   "In our hospital, patients transported from outside the community will have a single escort with them.  There is a hostel that houses and provides meals for escorts.    When we get a sick child usually only one escort comes with them.   The escort stays in the room with the child and we would provide the escort with a meal tray.    "Recently (the company) put a stop to it and said they would only supply trays to escorts of children 1 year old or less.  The other escorts would have to go to the hostel to either eat or get a meal ticket, everyday.  As nurses we could not believe an escort of a 2 year old would be made to leave the hospital to either eat or get a meal ticket and go to the hos

A Canadian Institute for Health Information report indicates that there was a total of  853,316 alternative level of care (ALC) days in Ontario hospitals in 2007-8.  Mostly, these were for patients waiting for a different sort of bed.  The report indicates that  27% of those days are accounted for by patients who were waiting for a complex continuing care or rehabilitation bed. That's a tad over 230,000 days per year. Rehabilitation and complex continuing care beds are different sorts of hospital beds, so again this suggests the resolution of the ALC issue will need improvements in the capacity of Ontario hospitals in those areas. A further 13% of days were accounted for by patients who died while in an ALC bed:  this group was almost always either waiting for a palliative care bed, or waiting for another sort of bed, it appears. Another 40% of Ontario ALC days were for patients waiting for a long term care bed.

A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicates that Canada has the lowest number of acute care hospitals beds of all OECD countries -- except for Mexico. The 34 OECD countries are the world's richest countries.  Canada has 1.8 acute care beds per 1,000 population in 2008 (the most recent year reported). Mexico has 1.6, while Australia has 3.5, Germany has 5.7, Japan has 8.2, the Netherlands has 3.1, Britain has 2.7, South Korea has 5.4, France has 3.5, Austria has 5.6, and the USA has 2.7 (in 2007). Overall, the OECD average is 3.6 -- exactly double the Canadian average. For all hospital beds, Canada also lags: with 3.3 beds per thousand people versus an OECD wide average of 5.14 (64% more). Canada also has the lowest hospital discharge rate per 100,000 than any other OECD country except for Mexico.  In 2008, Canada had 8,403 hospital discharges per 100,000 population, while the OECD average was 15,660. That's 86% more. Th

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 Sudbury Star reports that Community Care Access Centre clients on crisis lists are given first shot at any long-term care bed that becomes available in their community.  But if they refuse that first bed, they face having home care reduced as the refusal indicates they are not in crisis. MPP France Gelinas, the NDP Health and Long-Term Care critic, says the policy causes untold hardship for people in Ontario. The Star adds that this "policy, or at least the result of it, has devastated the family of Alphonse Savoie, of Hanmer.   The 81-year-old's six children fought to keep Alphonse and his wife, Alice, together as long as they could.   After exhausting the family's financial and emotional resources, and failing to find long-term care together for their parents, the family finally agreed to place Alphonse alone at Extendicare York." Update: The Star reports today that Health Minister Matthews and the Ministry are following up with the North Eas