Defend Public Healthcare

For many years, OCHU/CUPE has been concerned the Ontario government would transfer public hospital surgeries, procedures and diagnostic tests to private clinics. CUPE began campaigning in earnest against this possibility in the spring of 2007 with a tour of the province by former British Health Secretary, Frank Dobson, who talked about the disastrous British experience with private surgical clinics. The door opened years ago with the introduction of fee-for-service hospital funding (sometimes called Quality Based Funding). Then in the fall of 2013 the government announced regulatory changes to facilitate this privatization. The government announced Request for Proposals for the summer of 2014 to expand the role of "Independent Health Facilities" (IHFs).  With mass campaigns to stop the private clinic expansion by the Ontario Health Coalition the process slowed.   But it seems the provincial Liberal government continues to push the idea.  Following a recent second OCH

Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) hospital data indicates big changes in hospital activity, particularly in the most recent four years reported. Ontario, especially, is experimenting with hospital cuts and restructuring.   Hospital inpatient days are now dropping rapidly in Ontario – with a drop of 13.4% in inpatient days over the last four years. This has occurred even as inpatient days continue to increase in the rest of Canada (note: Quebec is excluded from the CIHI report as the data for that province is under review).  The data suggests a sharp fall in Ontario in 2013/14 compared to 2012/13 (8.9%), a less sharp decline over the previous 3 years, and significant growth over the previous five year period. Over the 15 years of data reported (1999/00 through 2013/14), Ontario inpatient days have increased 4.6%  -- even while population has increased at almost four times that rate (17.8 %) and the median age increased 4 full years (from 36.2 to 40.2 years). T

The suggestion that Ontario has a deficit because its public sector is too large does not bear scrutiny. Consider the following.  Public sector employment has fallen in the last three quarters in Ontario.  Since 2011, public sector employment has been pretty flat, with employment up less than 4 tenths of one percent in the first half of 2015 compared with the first half of 2011. This contrasts with public sector employment outside of Ontario which has gone up pretty consistently and is now 4.7% higher than it was in the first half of 2011. Private sector employment has also gone up consistently over that period. In Ontario, it has increased 4.3% since the first half of 2011, while in Canada as a whole it has increased 4.9%. As a result, public sector employment in Ontario is now shrinking as a percentage of the private sector workforce.  In contrast, in the rest of Canada, it is increasing. Moreover, public sector employment is much higher in the rest of Canada

Ontario hospital workers are much less absent due to illness or disability than hospital workers Canada-wide.  In 2014, Ontario hospital workers were absent 10.2 days due to illness or disability,  2.9 days less than the Canada wide average – i.e . 22% less.   In fact, Ontario hospital workers have had consistently fewer sick days for years. This is also true if absences due to family or personal responsibilities are included. Statistics Canada data for the last fifteen years for Canada and Ontario are reported in the chart below, showing Ontario hospital workers are consistently off work less. Assuming, Ontario accounts for about 38% of the Canada-wide hospital workforce, these figures suggest that the days lost due to illness of injury in Canada excluding Ontario are about 13.6 days per year ([13.6 x 0.68] + [10.2 x 0.38] = 13.1). In other words, hospital workers in the rest of Canada are absent from work due to illness or disability 1/3 more than Ontario