Defend Public Healthcare

A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that the Licensed Practical Nurse (or Registered Practical Nurse) workforce has grown rapidly since 2006 -- and much faster than the population. The trend has been especially marked in Ontario. Between 2006 and 2010, 5,061 new RPN positions were created in Ontario, increasing RPN numbers from 25,084 to 30,423.  That is a 21.3% increase. The number of RPNs  per capita also increased from 198 (per 100,000 population) to 230 (per 100,000), a 16.2% increase.  Canada-wide the increase was 15%. There is a wide discrepancy in the number of LPNs (RPNs) per capita from province to province. Ontario is close to the country-wide average (230 RPNs per 1000,000 population in 2010, compared to 238 country-wide). But in Newfoundland, the ratio is 489 per 100,000, while in BC it is 182 per 100,000 (the number declines pretty much as you move from east to west). In Ontario, full time RPN employment increased most rapidly (28.1%

Job cuts at the  Élisabeth Bruyère hospital in Ottawa are now set at 28.  That's up from three weeks ago when  the word was that twenty caregiver jobs in rehabilitation and palliative would get the boot.  The  Citizen   reports that  orderlies working in the rehabilitation and palliative-care departments will be among the hardest hit with six other support staff and two managers also affected. Like other health care bosses, the  Bruyère  boss  blamed  the (modest) wage increases won by unionized  hospital employees (while admitting that the hospital was increasing the salaries of non-union staff: “We have to do the same thing if we don’t want to lose people.”).    One might have thought he might have focused on the funding crisis.  Bruyère is expecting a 0.2-per-cent funding increase and the hospital has identified $2.6 million in cuts on the hospital's $130 million budget. Another $500,000 in cuts still has to be found.  That 0.2% increase falls rather short of the 6

Well here's a new one: hospital and fire officials are meeting in Sudbury to determine if it is okay to keep patients in hallway beds on medical floors, according to a report from the   Sudbury Star .   Apparently, some believe it may be safer to keep surplus patients in the hallways of medical floors rather than the hallways of Emergency Rooms. Two senior doctors have complained that recent hospital bed closures were hurting ER operations, including Hospital chief of staff, Dr. Chris Bourdon.  Bourdon says solutions proposed two or three weeks ago haven't done much to ease ER pressures, adding that although the ideas were great "when you look at them in depth, they're recycled ideas and enhancements of what we've already done." The   Star   reports that fire officials have expressed concerns about patients being placed in hallways. But there have long been complaints that patients were placed in inappropriate places due to overcrowding at the

Yesterday I noted the low rate of hospitalization in Canada and especially Ontario.  Recent data  from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD -- an organization for the world's richest nations) indicates that Mexico in fact has the lowest rate of hospitalizations amongst the 34 OECD "economically developed" nations. Now whether Mexico is actually economically comparable to the USA, Japan, Europe, etc. is another question.  But if we do include Mexico, Canada is the second lowest amongst the 34 OECD "economically developed" countries. Based on 2008 data, the average number of discharges per 100 population was 8.4 in Canada.  The average for all 34 of the OECD nations was practically double that -- 15.7  As noted yesterday, Ontario has the lowest level of hospitalizations of all the provinces in Canada.   We are not  quite at Mexican levels, but we are getting there. HEALTH CARE ACTIVITIES D