In Brief – Cornwall gets $5 million towards eliminating deficit / Ottawa hospital contracts beds to unregulated homes / Stress due to workload affects patient care

Cornwall Community Hospital is the latest hospital to get additional funding to offset its deficit. The hospital has received $5 million in new funding to its annual operating budget, reducing its deficit from $8 million to $3 million. According to the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, there is a plan to save $2.1 million by cutting eight beds and reducing the number of surgeries by 10 per cent. … The Ottawa Citizen reported on Wednesday that the Ottawa Hospital and the Queensway-Carleton Hospital have contracted with a private retirement home to provide 74 temporary beds for elderly alternate level of care (ALC) patients. The Ottawa Hospital will close 28 vacated beds as part of the process.  Retirement homes are not health care facilities. Unregulated, they are only covered under the Landlord-Tenant Act.  Last summer the Office of the Chief Coroner sent a letter to the Ontario Hospital Association cautioning hospitals of such transfers. Investigating the death of an ALC patient that had been placed in an unregulated retirement home, the Chief Coroner wrote “health care professionals should be reminded that frail elderly patients who are totally functionally dependent and have significant care needs are not appropriate for placement in the private care homes.” The Coroner said such patients should remain in a setting that is as resource intense as a licensed long term care home. …  The Ottawa Citizen also reported this week of a new study of occupational strain at four Ottawa hospitals. The study concluded that employees are overworked and suffering “unsustainable” levels of stress in a system that’s already as lean as can be. Written by Carleton University professor Linda Duxbury, the report says stress levels are making it difficult for nurses, doctors and other staff to look after patients properly. Michael Donaldson, president of OPSEU Local 464, told the Citizen You’re trying to meet these timelines identified by the ministry, and they’re on the white board in the ER: Are we up? Are we down? We’re barraged by information about how we’re doing.” The result is a steady rise in staff burnout, higher rates of sick leave, workplace injuries and medical errors. Marlene Rivier, president of Local 479 criticized a controversial absenteeism program that required sick employees to report to the hospital’s health insurer. Those who don’t, risk having their pay docked. “People feel harassed, they feel devalued, they feel they’ve become the object of suspicion,” she said.