Category Archives: Hospitals

Women being asked to disproportionately pay for the deficit

There’s a study beckoning to be done: the impact of the Drummond Commission report on women.

On this International Women’s Day we face an unprecedented attack on the public sector – a sector in which employment belongs 60 per cent to women.

In health care, that number is even higher – 82 per cent.

While there is much talk about sharing the pain from the last recession, the reality is those who rely the most upon public services and those who deliver them are really being asked to shoulder the cost. More often that not, these are women.

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Windsor hospital CEO defends women’s wages – we think…

Our friend David Musyj is mellowing.

The CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, once a vocal advocate for wage freezes, now says either freeze all wages or none at all.

Musyj told the Windsor Star that it’s a morale breaker when the government freezes wages for just one group.

He says the impact of extending the freeze will be negative because further penalizing this group for “political gain” is grossly unfair.

We agree. As public sector workers, it is a morale breaker to see calls for more austerity when our wage increases are already well below the private sector.

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Ombuds logs 79 complaints about the Niagara Health System

As private not-for-profit corporations, Ontario’s hospitals are not normally subject to review by the Ombudsman’s office – a point Andre Marin has made over and over as he attempts to wrestle for jurisdiction of the MUSH sector – municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals.

However, when the Ministry takes over a hospital, as it did with the appointment of Kevin Smith last August 31st, the rules change.

To date, the Ombudsman has received 79 complaints about Niagara Health System, but says he has not begun an investigation. According to the Niagara’s Bullet News, the Ombudsman’s office has been looking at each complaint and raising issues with Smith.

The complaints have also been petering out over time. Forty of the 79 complaints were received last September. Only a “handful” have been made this year according to the news report.

Toronto East General ends merger talks with The Scarborough Hospital

The merger is off.

In a surprise move, the Toronto East General Hospital board pulled out of discussions with The Scarborough Hospital over a possible merger.

The hospital noted the lack of support by the Central East Local Health Integration Network for such a merger (see Friday’s BLOG story).

A $90,000 consultant’s report, initially to have been released to the public in March, was released on the TEGH web site Friday. The CEOs have had the report since February 17.

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LHIN warns merger of two Toronto hospitals could undermine access and quality

As The Scarborough Hospital (TSH) openly advocates for a merger with the Toronto East General, CEO Dr. John Wright may have difficulty persuading the Central East Local Health Integration Network of the merits of bringing the two hospitals together.

In a preliminary report recently posted online, the Central East LHIN raises a number of concerns, including the fact that such a merger does not align with their clinical services plan.

The CE LHIN states there is no evidence that “this will improve quality or access,” suggesting that it may possibly undermine it.

The LHIN states that the current activity is not client-focused, lacks a clear engagement strategy, and has not garnered physician support.

They further state there is no evidence to suggest a merger would assist in addressing population health challenges within Scarborough.

The LHIN suggests that if TSH is interested in an alliance, that it would make more sense to look towards “integration” with the Scarborough Centenary Hospital, which is part of the Rouge Valley Health System.

This is not the first time that suggestion has been made. Community groups in Ajax, who have never been happy having their hospital linked to Scarborough Centenary, have long advocated that Centenary should join TSH, leaving the Ajax-Pickering Hospital to link to Durham’s Lakeridge Health.

No application has yet been made by the two hospitals to proceed with a formal merger.

CEO says he wants to increase power base through Toronto hospital mergers

After all the talk about system integration it’s notable that the CEO of a Ontario public hospital should argue for a merger on the basis of enhancing the institution’s power base.

This hardly strikes us as being in sync with the present evidence-based narratives emerging from the Drummond Report or the Minister of Health’s new action plan. Isn’t health planning supposed to be about providing care in the right place at the right time by most appropriate provider? The “power” scenario suggests the province may be making decisions on a different basis.

It is even more surprising given one of the two potential dance partners in the merger is Rob Devitt, CEO of the Toronto East General Hospital.

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Drummond Report: Health care sectors get funding restraint… and a pony

Don Drummond wants to provide every health care provider with their own pony while the system gets squeezed another notch tighter.

In his report released this week, the Commissioner on Public Sector reform wants to implement everything from increased salaries for the CEOs of the Local Health Integration Networks to triple the per capita spending on public health.

All this is to take place while restraining health care spending increases to 2.5 per cent per year – about half the funding increase from 2011.

Where the savings come from with all this new investment is not clear, nor is there an explanation on how so much can be done with so little. In fact, there is very little costing associated with any of these recommendations.

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Dr. Fonberg, Karma and Accountability

It was with interest we saw Dr. Eric Fonberg’s name appear in the Toronto Star over the weekend. Fonberg, along with 10 other colleagues from York Central Hospital, had decided the best place to have a meeting about hospital “accountability” would be Boca Raton, Florida. We can hear the snickers from here.

Fonberg is better known to us as the former Chair of Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health. Fonberg served in that role while the hospital was undergoing a number of cost-saving service changes last year, including layoff of 28 child and youth workers employed in a unique and intensive program for hard-to-serve youth.

While the layoffs were originally described as “evidence-based,” the evidence didn’t hold up to scrutiny when a former employee of the Centre decided to dig a little deeper. In the end it wasn’t so much an evidence-based decision as a “me-too” decision, following the lead of other hospitals which equally lacked solid evidence in which to make their decision.

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New Video: Faces of Support – Making Ontario’s Hospitals run effectively

This new video looks behind the scenes at the contributions highly skilled support staff make to the daily running of a hospital. It is a big mistake to assume these individuals are expendable during times of austerity — experience tells us these workers are key to making hospitals both safe and efficient. Clearly from the stories they tell, what patients also value is a smile and someone who treats them with dignity. This video was shot last year at York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill and at the Kingston Hotel Dieu Hospital as a project of OPSEU’s Hospital Support Division.

Faces of Support (2012) 14 minutes – Featuring Jill McIlwraith (Chair, OPSEU Hospital Support Division), Warren “Smokey” Thomas (President, OPSEU).

Click here to watch the movie:

 

Food Wars: Hospital claims dining on frozen foods and fruit cups from China is “eating right”

“Determining the net cost/benefit of local foods was not possible with the survey because of confidentiality issues associated with food service contracts.” – Local Food For Health Care (Report), Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, August 2010

In the headlong rush to privatize, we often forget that the claims of better cost and efficiency are seldom verified, especially after some time has elapsed from the decision point.

The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, with a Trillium Grant from the province of Ontario, set out to assess the practicality, cost benefit, health and environmental benefits of incorporating more local food into patient and cafeteria meals.

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