Category Archives: Mental Health

The battle to save 31 specialized mental health beds in North Bay is heating up again.

OPSEU members are working with the Concerned Citizens Committee of North Bay and Area to distribute postcards calling for an investigation into the decision-making process involved in moving the 31 beds to Sudbury.

The postcard feature a mattress with the text “31 beds = 31 People, 64 Jobs, $12 million economic impact.

The beds were initially intended to be part of the transfer to the new North Bay hospital complex. However, despite the new hospital costing more than $1 billion over the life of the P3 (public-private partnership) contract, the new facility did not have room for the 31 beds.

The group is angry with the North East LHIN’s Regional Advisory Panel which held consultations despite evidence to suggest the decision had already been made years earlier.

The citizens group is meeting Wednesday evenings at 7:30 pm in the Emmanuel United Church on Lakeshore Drive (across from the Metro) in North Bay.

The group has a meeting planned with NDP leader Andrea Horwath soon.

See previous post on this issue:
https://opseudiablogue.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=389&action=edit

An all-party committee of Ontario MPPs has released its report on mental health after 18 months of deliberations. With all party support, will the recommendations contained within be incorporated into a larger mental health plan for the province?

Entitled “Navigating the Journey to Wellness: The Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan for Ontarians,” the surprisingly compact report (it’s only 21-pages plus appendices) recommends a number of significant changes.

Looking at the Cancer Care Ontario model, the report recommends a similar coordinating agency be established: Mental Health and Addictions Ontario (MHAO). The new agency would be responsible for designing, managing, and coordinating the mental health and addictions system, with responsibility for ensuring programs and services are delivered consistently and comprehensively across Ontario.

Given the unequal geographic distribution of mental health services, the committee recommends MHAO should conduct an assessment of the need for acute care psychiatric beds for both children and adults by region.

This might start by placing a moratorium on any further bed cuts. Ontario is already below its divestment target of 35 beds per 100,0000 residents, yet we are continuing to see further bed cuts proceed under the misguided illusion that we don’t need beds at all.

The Select Committee on Mental Health and Addictions paints a disturbing picture of Ontario’s shortcomings in providing care:

“In general, Ontarians wait too long for treatment. Youth are caught in the gap between programs for children and adults, repeating their case histories to a series of unconnected service providers. First Nations people struggle with above-average rates of mental illness, addictions, and youth suicide owing in part to a history of poverty and consequences of residential schooling. Francophones are misdiagnosed because they are not treated in their first language. Linguistic and cultural barriers may also affect newcomers and refugees. Seniors unnecessarily languish with depression, often undiagnosed, while society as a whole must face what has been called the coming tsunami of Alzheimer disease.”

The report suggests that about one in ten people suffer from highly treatable, yet overlooked, conditions such as anxiety disorders.

The committee also recognizes something OPSEU has been saying for years: “community support” often means that an individual is cared for by a stressed, over-burdened family struggling along without assistance.

This was a theme raised in the committee’s interim report. If Ontario was to maintain a divestment target of 35 beds per 100,000 residents, 60 per cent of mental health funding would have to be community-based.

According to a 2008 Ontario auditor report, the province only spent $39 on community-based services for every $61 spent on institutionalized care – a statistical indictment of the province’s rational behind ongoing bed cuts.

Further, the report acknowledges that the community-based care that does exist is uncoordinated.

“One of the main problems in Ontario’s mental health and addictions system is that there is, in fact, no coherent system,” the committee acknowledges.

Mental health and addictions services are delivered by 440 children’s mental health agencies, 330 community mental health agencies, 150 substance abuse treatment agencies and 50 problem gambling centres.

“Many people simply fall through the cracks, or give up in frustration because of the complexity of the system,” the committee writes.

The health minister may want to think long and hard about this given the rest of the health system is also being pushed into a similar fragmented environment.

The report calls for the new MHAO to ensure that a basket of core institutional, residential and community services is available in every region of the province for clients of all ages, identify gaps, and eliminate duplication.

What’s missing in the report is any estimate on what it would cost to implement its recommendations. Given the government’s penchant for tax cuts over new health care spending, it will be interesting to see if this report gathers dust or whether we are likely to see a long overdue investment in mental health care.

 More on this to come in the next few days.

 OPSEU has written to Health Minister Deb Matthews over the reduction in mental health beds proposed for London’s Regional Health Centre (St. Joseph’s Health Care).

The aging facility is being replaced by two public-private partnerships (P3s) in London and St. Thomas which will offer far fewer beds. The plan also calls for 50 beds to be transferred to Cambridge this fall and another 59 beds to Windsor next year. The new P3 facilities are scheduled to open in 2015 with a 156-bed London Parkwood site and an 89-bed forensic unit in St. Thomas. London and St. Thomas presently have 450 beds.

While the new London hospital will have the ability to add on 12 more beds, there are about 80 fewer beds in the scheme. The province has already reduced the number of mental health beds to below per capita levels recommended by the Health Restructuring Commission.

While the hospital has given OPSEU an outline of the bed changes, no detailed plan has yet to be released to the public.

The union is concerned that given this represents an integration decision by the South West Local Health Integration Network (SW LHIN), that families, patients, staff and other stakeholders be given an opportunity to provide input on the plan.

This also represents another region of the province where mental health beds from one community are being taken to address the needs of another. In North Bay OPSEU is fighting to retain 31 mental health beds that will transfer to Sudbury when the North East Mental Health Centre moves into its new P3 facility.

“We ask that if additional mental health beds are needed in communities such as Sudbury, Cambridge and Windsor, that new funding be granted to meet these needs,” OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas wrote in the letter.

 The union is also calling on a moratorium on further cuts to mental health beds given most mental health centres are at or near capacity.

OPSEU members say they’ll continue to fight the move of 31 mental health beds from North Bay to Sudbury despite refusal by Health Minister Deb Matthews to budge on the issue.

A local advocacy committee called it quits after being unable to persuade the Local Health Integration Network or Queen’s Park that this was a poor decision. The group had met with the health minister on Friday.

The unified labour-business-municipal group had argued the decision would eliminate 64 jobs in North Bay, incur considerable costs, and uproot patients currently residing in those beds.

“It’s not as though we just didn’t like the decision to move these patients from North Bay to Sudbury,” Sean Lawlor, the president of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce, told the North Bay Nugget. “We had, and still do have, a list of serious concerns regarding the flawed process and the actual decision itself.”

Municipal politician said they were “sickened” and “flabbergasted” by a decision that appeared to have been made long before any consultation took place.

Muncipal Councillor Dave Mendicino, who served on the committee, said the health minister told them they should be grateful for the health care jobs they do have. The group says they were never given a satisfactory explanation for the move.

One nurse commented on the Nugget web site that the move saddened her heart. “For me it is the end of my 17 year career,” she wrote. “I can’t uproot my family and move to Sudbury. I feel for my patients and their families. Sadly a majority of those patients and their families live in North Bay. They have no voice and no one will listen.”

See previous post: https://opseudiablogue.wordpress.com/2010/05/28/transfer-of-north-bay-mental-health-beds-will-be-costly-after-experts-determine-proposed-site-not-suitable/

NORTH BAY – The local committee established to investigate the details surrounding a decision to move 31 specialized care patients from North Bay to Sudbury has some very serious concerns following a review of the report prepared by Medical Experts at the North East Mental Health Centre (NEMHC) and new information raised at a meeting held with the CEO of NEMHC/Regional Advisory Panel (RAP) Co-Chair.

In the report the medical staff clearly state that the proposed Sudbury location for the transferred beds — The Kirkwood Site — is not a suitable facility. They indicate that a new facility will need to be built in Sudbury to accommodate the specialized care patients. Additional financial resources will be needed to retain existing medical staff and to attract and train new staff for the facility in Sudbury.

“It seems preposterous that a decision of this magnitude could be made without even considering the costs involved with the decision. From what we can tell, this move is going to cost the taxpayers millions of dollars for absolutely no reason” stated Sean Lawlor, President of the North Bay Chamber of Commerce. “If the RAP would have consulted with the experts prior to making their recommendation, they would have been aware of the significant challenges associated with moving these patients to Sudbury.”

“Our contention is that the best interests of patients would have been better served by looking at the total costs of this decision. If money can be saved by keeping these patients here in North Bay, while maintaining the same levels of high quality service that they have been receiving for years, the savings can be used to provide the specialized care services that these patients need and deserve” says OPSEU Local 636 President, Jackie Smythe.

This concern was further compounded during a meeting between the committee and the Northeast Mental Health Centre CEO and Co-Chair of the Regional Advisory Panel, when it was learned that the RAP’s scope of work was actually quite narrow. Rather than comparing any legitimate options that either community might have had, the RAP only considered the merits of locating these patients in one community over another. This confirmed the belief of the committee that neither the Cassellholme option, nor any real option, was ever presented or considered by the panel.

“How can a decision of this magnitude be made without even knowing what specific options exist in either community? Cassellholme had a local solution that would have addressed many of the issues identified by the Medical Experts at the NEMHC, but our solution was totally ignored by the RAP throughout the process. It appears as though the RAP ignored just about every aspect of what would have been required to make an informed, logical decision. How is that in the best interests of patients?” stated Dave Mendicino, Chair of Cassellholme.

Finally, the committee was equally confused to learn that the directive to move these patients from North Bay to Sudbury actually came about two years ago, when the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) notified the NEMHC that these patients would be moved to Sudbury. This contradicts what the committee had been told all along, that the decision was at the discretion of the North East Local Health Integration Network (NE LHIN).

“Clearly, the LHINs are not arm’s length from the Province. Our concerns regarding the MOHLTC making the presentation to the RAP supporting the Sudbury option makes perfect sense now, since this whole process appears to have had a pre-determined outcome from the beginning. Unfortunately, this process has cost taxpayers a lot of money that could have been better spent on providing health care services to the people that need it,” says committee member Derek Shogren.

“The interests of these patients needs to be front and centre, and from the information we have available to us now, it appears as though the best interests of the patients were trumped by some other motivation” says Lawlor. “At this point, we are calling on the MOHLTC to reverse this decision and address the variety of concerns that were identified by the medical staff by keeping these patients here in North Bay.”

Based on the information that has surfaced over the last several weeks, the committee expects that Health Minister Deborah Matthews and local MPP Monique Smith will be supportive of keeping the beds in North Bay.

NORTH BAY – Today’s decision by the North East Local Health Integration Network (NE-LHIN) to remove 31 specialized mental health beds from North Bay will result in the direct loss of 64 jobs and cost the local economy an estimated $4.8 million, says the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

The NE-LHIN ignored local input to keep the beds in North Bay, instead relocating the beds and existing patients to Sudbury when Northeast Mental Health Centre moves into its new facility next January.

“You don’t fix a service gap in one community by taking services from another,” says OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “The LHINs were supposed to coordinate service delivery by listening to local communities. We have yet to see any reasonable evidence of that taking place.”

The North East LHIN refused to respond to OPSEU’s request to make its own presentation to the LHIN board prior to the decision.

The union says that few of the experienced health professionals working at the North Bay campus will want to make the move to Sudbury.

“How will the standard of care be improved when these patients will be forced to move and leave behind their trusted care providers?” asks Thomas. “North Bay is their home.”

The union had been working with various stakeholders in the community to find a North Bay solution to the problem after it was learned the new $1 billion P3 facility wouldn’t have room for the 31 beds.

“This kind of disregard for local communities has permanently damaged the LHINs,” says Thomas. “We know there is talk of merging the LHINs to a smaller number of jurisdictions – the government likely needs to start looking at replacing them altogether.”

A Queen’s Park rally is taking place Monday, May 3 in support of declaring May 7^th National Child and Youth Mental Health Day. Beginning at 10 am, the rally will include such speakers as OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas, broadcaster Valerie Pringle, and a representative from the Mental Health Commission of Canada. In addition, there will be stories shared by family members and youth. Mental health affects 20 per cent of Canadian children and youth – that’s more than 2 million individuals.  Bus transport will be available from St. Catharines, Hamilton, Burlington, Sarnia, Chatham, London and Barrie. To reserve a spot on one of these buses, contact admin@pcmh.ca

A private members bill on the issue will be read at 1:30 pm in the afternoon. For those who wish to be in the legislature for this, please contact admin@pcmh.ca

WHITBY – Ontario Shores is eliminating 55 positions at the former Whitby Mental Health Centre in order to cope with underfunding from the Ministry of Health.

Forty of the positions will receive layoff notices, while 15 workers will be redeployed following contracting-out of their work.

“Given the priority the province is placing on mental health, these layoffs come as a surprise,” says Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the 130,000 member Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). “The ministry of health should talk to the ministry of finance – one is trying to create jobs by stimulating the economy, the other is eliminating jobs at an astonishing rate across the province.”

Ontario Shores is eliminating front line workers from nine different classifications covering all three bargaining units. These job losses will impact patient care.

Under the terms of their collective agreement with OPSEU, Ontario Shores is obliged to find positions for members who lose their jobs due to contracting out, however, the union is concerned the 15 workers may only have a temporary landing.

“There have been so many programs cut at Ontario Shores that patients are left on the wards with nothing to do,” says Thomas.

The union is also upset that patients have been targeted with an increase to the cost of food at the canteen and the lack of transportation to and from appointments in the community.

With cuts to transportation, OPSEU questions how forensic patients will get to court appearances and to off-site medical appointments.

In addition to eliminating 55 positions, Ontario Shores has announced that it is closing one of two Beacon House sites. The Oshawa site will now be closed permanently. Beacon House is a residential treatment program serving individuals with complex personality problems that have resulted in psychiatric hospitalizations and frequent involvement with community services.

Ontario Shores has also closed Challenging Directions Enterprises, a Whitby-based outpatient workshop that provides work experience to 75-80 clients each day. The sheltered workshop closed its doors February 23rd.

OPSEU believe the layoffs are a partial response to a growing legion of managers being employed at Ontario Shores. This expanding list of managers is beginning to displace programming space for clients as Ontario Shores seeks to find new office space to accommodate them.