OPSEU Diablogue

Bluster turns to action as Ontario rolls back doctor’s fees

Posted on May 7, 2012 | 1 comment

Well that didn’t take long.

After a few weeks of bluster, the Ontario government has walked away from bargaining with the province’s doctors and imposed a retroactive fee schedule that rolls back fees affecting 4,500 different OHIP services.

That includes a four-year 11 per cent rollback on fees paid for 250 diagnostic radiology tests that the government claims are justified by improved technological efficiency.

Fees paid for cataracts are being similarly rolled back from $441 to $397.75.

Fees paid for eye injections for retinal disease will be more than halved over four years, from $189 to $90.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Dr. Doug Weir, OHIP fees for doctors, OMA, Ontario Medical Association

Staff turnover rates costly to hospitals – will we see them escalate further?

Posted on May 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

How organizations determine the cost of employee turnover can vary. Some look at only the recruitment costs. For example, in 2008 HealthForce Ontario estimated it costs $25,000 to recruit a nurse. Others look at broader impacts, including the cost of severance, recruitment, training, overtime and lost productivity. London Health Sciences Centre, for example, estimates the real cost of employee turnover can be as much as 1.5 times the position’s annual compensation.

At the Niagara Health System Kevin Smith, the government appointed supervisor, noted in his interim report the difficulty the regional hospital system faces in recruitment and retention, estimating a 5.7 per cent annual rate of turnover to 2019. That turnover is about equally divided between retirees and those who simply decide to resign and seek work elsewhere. That means about 1,750 staff will need to be replaced between 2013-2019. Seventy physicians will also need to be replaced over that period.

“There is intense pressure and frankly competition to attract the best and the brightest to any organization and the NHS is currently at a disadvantage,” Smith notes.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Health Human Resources, HealthForce Ontario, Kevin Smith, London Health Sciences Centre, NHS, Niagara Health System

8,000 rally in Grimsby, but new mega-hospital instead proposed to replace four Niagara sites

Posted on May 4, 2012 | 1 comment

In Grimsby they must be shaking their heads. They may not be the only ones.

On Wednesday 8,000 residents came out in the rain to try to save the $138 million project to build a new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. The hospital was among six projects that were either cut or scaled back in the spring budget.

The day after the massive community rally, Kevin Smith, the province’s appointed supervisor for the Niagara Health System, says the province should close four South Niagara hospitals and replace them with a single regional facility. He is also proposing to close the hospital at Niagara-on-the-Lake, taking the NHS down to just two hospital sites and a stand-alone urgent care centre. The proposed new hospital would replace facilities in Welland, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne and Fort Erie.

This is on top of the new $759 million privatized facility intended to consolidate NHS services in St. Catharines. The P3 hospital is expected to open in 2013.

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Posted in Hospitals

Tagged Dr. Kevin Smith, Fort Erie, Grimsby, NHS, Niagara Falls, Niagara Health System, Niagara South Hospital, Niagara-on-the-lake, Port Colborne, Welland, West Lincolm Memorial Hospital

McGuinty says he needs majority to take hard line against labour

Posted on May 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Dalton McGuinty may have handed health care professionals and other public sector workers a reason to vote against the Liberals in upcoming Kitchener-Waterloo byelection.

The seat was recently vacated by Tory health critic Elizabeth Witmer after she accepted an appointment as Chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). This despite past conflicts between Witmer and the Liberals over the WSIB.

Should the byelection be won by the Liberals, it would propel the McGuinty government into a defacto majority, the speaker allowed to break tie votes in provincial parliament.

Given the “elegant” compromise with the NDP over the budget, why would McGuinty suddenly need a majority so badly that he would be willing to appoint a long-time opponent to such a sensitive position at WSIB?

According to the Toronto Star’s Martin Regg Cohn, McGuinty says he needs the majority “because tough times require a hard line against labour.”

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Dalton McGuinty and labour, Deb Matthews, Extendicare, Kitchener Waterloo Byelection, Labour to pay for deficit, Sunshine List, Witmer WSIB Chair

Matthews comments considered “condescending” in Sudbury

Posted on May 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Sudbury residents may be a little mystified by Health Minister Deb Matthews recent comments on their emergency room problem.

Health Sciences North recently closed 30 transitional beds in March. These beds were occupied by individuals described as alternate level of care (ALC) – patients who have completed their acute care treatment, but are not well enough to go home.

Now the hospital has among the highest waits in the province for access to its ER.

According to the Sudbury Star, a 17-hour wait in February expanded to a 19.7 hour wait in March. The hospital is fingering the rising number of ALC patients as the culprit.

Some would look at this and see some dots connecting.

Remarkably, in an interview with the Sudbury Star, Matthews said “I’ve been enormously impressed with the way the community has come together to find solutions.”

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Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged ALC patients, Alternate Level of Care, Deb Matthews, Dr. Peter Zalan, ER wait times, Health Sciences North, Hospital overcrowding, Sudbury hospital ER

Mental Health Week: Be part of a Parkdale human chain May 12

Posted on May 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Arrabon House believes the way to start a conversation is to put tape over your mouth and stand in a really big line.

The first annual “Stop The ‘Crazy’ Movement” is asking those who care about mental health to do just that on Saturday, May 12 in the Toronto community of Parkdale.

The plan is to form a human chain that begins at 4 pm on Queen St. W. at Roncesvalles and spreads eastward. Each person on the chain will link arms, wear a white t-shirt, and place masking tape over their mouth with words describing their connection to a specific mental illness as a patient, survivor, family member, friend or as a health care professional. According to the organizers, on cue everybody’s tape comes off, symbolizing how “crazy” it is for us not to talk about something that affects so many people.

“The connections we are creating will help promote our community, as well as strengthen the existing bonds we have,” the organizers state in their release.

During the human chain the Marsaryk-Cowan Community Centre will serve as a check point for the event, offering information on community resources, a BBQ and “Stop The Crazy” merchandise. The actual chain is intended to require only a small commitment of time.

That evening, the real fun begins at The Sister pub (1554 Queen St. W.), where a silent auction will take place to raise money for Arrabon House. The party includes a live band – “Your New Neighbours” and stand-up comedy.

Arrabon House has been part of the Parkdale community since 1973, providing support to young women who have experienced trauma, abuse, and mental health issues.

Stop The ‘Crazy’ takes place on the final weekend of the national Mental Health Week.

When: Saturday, May 12 / 4 pm
Where: Queen & Roncesvalles, Toronto
Download: Stop The Crazy Poster

You Can Help!

Aarbon is looking for volunteers and sponsors for their event as well as donations to their silent auction. If you can help, please contact Corey Ramsay at 416-509-4634 (corey.f.r@gmail.com) or Wendy Curnew at 416-570-4032 (stopthecrazy1@gmail.com).

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Posted in Mental Health

Tagged Arrabon House, Mental Health Week, Stop The Crazy Movement

Ontario likes Denmark’s model for aging, but will McGuinty really pay for it?

Posted on May 2, 2012 | 1 comment

“In Denmark, they started planning for folks getting older in 1986 and they developed a wonderful system of caring in the community. We kind of started three years ago.” – Dr. Peter Zalan, president of the medical staff at Health Sciences North (Sudbury), in response overcrowding and long waits in the ER. (CBC News)

In 1987 Denmark decided to build no new nursing homes, and since then, the number of beds has dropped dramatically.

However, that does not mean there are no residential facilities for seniors that provide around the clock care in the country of 5.5 million. In 2007 about 41,000 Danes received permanent help in either a nursing home or a “nursing dwelling.” By comparison, Ontario with a population of more than 13 million people has about 76,000 people in long-term care homes.

What Denmark does do is provide a lot more home care.

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Posted in Long Term Care

Tagged Danish Home Care, Denmark Aging Initiatives, Denmark Nursing Homes, Dr. Peter Zalan, Health Sciences North

Nurses reach tentative deal in Norfolk County

Posted on May 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Public health nurses in Norfolk County are voting this afternoon on a tentative agreement that may end the first Ontario nursing strike in almost a decade.

The tentative deal to end the 12-day old strike was reached overnight with assistance of a mediator appointed by the Ministry of Labour.

“I want to again thank everyone in this community who showed such overwhelming support and respect for our nurses,” said Linda Haslam Stroud, president of the 59,000 member Ontario Nurses’ Association.