In Brief: CHEO sells off assets and raises more funds to balance budget – maybe / More

The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) is selling off assets to balance its budget this year without the kind of pain being felt in other hospital communities. The sale of several houses owned by the hospital plus additional funding from the provincial child and youth ministry should allow them to break even – maybe. CHEO is basing its plan, like The Ottawa Hospital, on a 2 per cent funding increase from the Ministry of Health. The Ministry asked the hospitals to plan based on three scenarios – a funding freeze, one per cent and two percent. It has yet to indicate what that final figure will be. … The Peterborough Health Coalition is calling a town hall meeting around potential cuts to its local hospital. The town hall meeting will take place April 7 at 7 pm, location TBA. … The Ontario Health Coalition hearings are continuing this week, with stops in Cobourg on Wednesday, Port Perry on Thursday, and Haliburton on Friday. The first meeting in Wallaceburg saw 140 people come out, with presentations from the mayors of three municipalities, a councillor from Walpole First Nation, The Lambton Federation of Agriculture, local business owners, a minister, union representatives, local health and hospital committees, the local MP, nurses, patients and concerned citizens. For more information, see https://opseudiablogue.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/ohc-expert-panel-travels-to-cross-province-hearings-on-rural-and-northern-healthcare/ … Doctors in the British Columbia interior are paying nurses out of their own pockets to keep their operating rooms running. Seventeen surgeons at Kootenay-Boundary Regional Hospital are fighting their health authority’s plan to reduce nursing staff hours. “The orthopaedic surgeons would increase their revenues if they paid nurses to stay on staff,” Dr. Ian Grant told the Globe and Mail, “But if they didn’t perform surgeries, they would probably make just as much money sitting in their offices and the wait times would increase.” … Meanwhile, BC is engaging in its own e-health scandal. Criminal corruption charges have been laid against three individuals linked to that province’s e-health initiative, including a former deputy minister of health, a private consultant, and a former health authority manager. … Hospital spending out of control? Hardly. The Canadian Institute for Health Information compared hospital expenditures per capita by province from 1990 to 2009 (estimated) based on constant 2002 dollars. Ontario’s increased from $927 per capita to $1,084. That’s well below the Canadian average of $1,185, placing Ontario above only PEI and Quebec in per capita funding. … A Toronto-based doctor who walked into a Windsor ER late at night and made “inappropriate comments” to female staff is under investigation by the Windsor police. While the doctor’s primary practice is in Toronto, he maintained privileges at Windsor’s Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital – at least until the hospital suspended them following the incident. The hospital has a zero tolerance policy on workplace violence. Hotel Dieu Grace was the hospital in which nurse Lori Dupont was killed on the job by Dr. Marc Daniel, a former boyfriend.