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Hospital clinic cuts service: a sign of things to come?

The Leamington and District Memorial Hospital ended 7 day a week service at its Pelee Island clinic on July 1.  Also gone is its 24 hour a day on-call service. The mayor of Pelee Island told  the Windsor Star it's "only a matter of time" before someone dies because of recent cuts to urgent health care in the community.   People on Pelee Island, whether they are residents or visitors, have the right to the same health care services as everyone else in Ontario."  As of July 1, the Pelee Island clinic - now a nursing station - operates only eight hours per day, five days a week, providing primary care, urgent care and home care. It's closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Those hours will remain in effect as part of a 60-day trial period.  T o make matters worse, the clinic may be open only one day a week in the off-season, from December until April.  The decision to reduce health care services on the island was made in May  and based on the community'

Momentum builds for local food in Ontario hospitals

The Star reports that although the the provincial government cut its $24 million commitment  to get more local food into hospitals and other public institutions to $6 million, it is still  still working to get more local food into schools and hospitals. Or at least it is according to the Ministry of Agriculture. "We made a commitment to increasing a footprint in the public sector for local foods," says  Melissa Zanette, press secretary to Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell.  Local food tastes better and is healthier, she says. And increasing consumption helps Ontario farmers and is more environmentally friendly than trucking it from afar, she adds. Right now only 20 per cent of hospital food originates in Ontario, according to a survey of 33 Ontario hospitals by the group My Sustainable Canada. Other hospitals endeavoring to use more local food include the Scarborough Hospital,  St. Joseph's Health Centre in Guelph, and St. Mike's in Toronto, the Star reports.  

Libs campaigning on new hospitals - as hospitals cut beds

It has become apparent that the Ontario Liberals are campaigning for the upcoming election by  announcing new hospitals (typically public private partnership hospitals) and renovations of other hospitals.  Announcements have been made and more will come. The weak point in this argument is that since the Liberals were elected in 2003 there has been a loss of 836  hospital beds,  moving from 31,646 in 2003 down to 30,810 in 2010. Most of these cuts came  in 2010, when the Liberals reduced hospital funding increases.  After the election, they are promising even sharper reductions in funding increases. And there is no promise to stop the hospital bed cuts.   But even now, hospital bed occupancy has moved up to 97.9%.

Niagara hospital: at what point do leaders ask for help?

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."

Canadian government recognizes high rate of hospital acquired infections

As noted a few days ago, a new World Health Organization (WHO) report has identified Canada as having a high rate of hospital acquired infections.  Among reporting countries, the Canadian rate of 11.6% was second only to New Zealand's rate of 12%.  (New Zealand, like Canada, has very few hospital beds). Now, thanks to a Postmedia report , we know that the Public Health Canada (the main federal government agency responsible for public health) doesn't dispute the figures.   At 11.6 per cent, Canada's rate contrasts poorly with the U.S. rate of 4.5 per cent and Europe's rate of 7.1 per cent, according to data in WHO's Report on the Burden of Endemic Health Care-Associated Infection Worldwide 2011. R esponding to a Postmedia News inquiry, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) did not dispute WHO's finding - and indeed WHO typically bases its reports on data provided by the respective countries.... ``The data was taken from surveys and the objective was to

Are alcohol gels effective against C. Difficile?

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care tweeted yesterday that if you have time to tweet you have time to wash your hands. Probably pretty good advice, even if it does harp on the government's long time focus on this aspect of infection control. But when I looked at the MOHLTC site linked to the tweet, I noticed they praised the use of alcohol gels and rubs and did not raise the issue of whether these are suitable for dealing with C. Difficile.  And, from what I've seen, at least some hospitals recommend using alcohol gels to help prevent the spread of C. Difficile. Yet many  experts dealing with C. Difficile in health care settings report that alcohol gel s are ineffective when dealing with C. Difficile. This is important as the alcohol gels are widely used in health care settings - hospitals have spent a lot of money putting dispensers around their facilities. So why the discrepancy in advice?

Liberals open to more private health care delivery

The Ontario Medical Association called last week for more surgeries and other work to be performed outside of public hospitals.   This proposal from the OMA is old news . However, in this case they specifically pleaded that that their proposal not get caught up in "over politicized language" about the privatization of health care.   Yes, I am sure they don't want this to become part of the debate about privatization.  But I am defeated when I try to think of this in other terms.  If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is probably ... (a duck). The Progressive Conservatives (PCs) supported such a plan in the last election, citing some similar claims about cost savings. It didn't seem to do them any good.  But no doubt they will be down for more -- their program is privatization friendly.    More surprising is the welcome offered to the OMA proposal by the current Liberal Health Minister, Deb Matthews.  Here's the account from the Sun chain: