Here’s a given – as Ontario hospitals start to shed services and staff in the next three years, the government is inevitably going to proclaim the benefits of serving patients in the community.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information recently released a report showing Ontario has not only the fewest beds per capita in Canada, but the second least in the 34 country OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). Only Mexico has fewer beds per capita – for now.
In fact, the number of Ontarians hospitalized in 2010-11 was not only the lowest in Canada, but it was down 33.5 per cent from what it was in this province during 1995-1996.
Tom Closson, the former Chair of the Ontario Hospital Association, told the Toronto Star June 22 that the province has lost 50 per cent of its hospital beds per capita over the last two decades.
Ontario has just two beds per capita for every 1,000 residents.
Two.
OPSEU Diablogue 