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The Globe and Mail Fri Mar 20 2015

When you think about the pay you get for your work, do you feel you are paid about right, underpaid or overpaid? Over the past month we've posed that question to Canadian workers from a diverse cross-section of occupations and sectors. Here's what our Canadian Work, Stress, and Health study (CANWSH) has discovered so far: 46 per cent feel "paid about right;" 33 per cent feel "underpaid a little;" 14 per cent feel "underpaid a lot."

By comparison, the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS) asked American workers a slightly different question: "How fair is what you earn on your job in comparison to others doing the same type of work you do?" The patterns are remarkably similar to our results: 51 per cent report they earn "about as much as I deserve;" 27 per cent report earning "somewhat less than I deserve;" 12 per cent report earning "much less than I deserve." Surely no one feels overpaid, right? Not so: 7 per cent of Canadians and 10 per cent of Americans feel overpaid and, among those folks, a handful say severely so. You might be wondering: "Who are these people?" You might also wish to extend a helping hand to relieve their burden. As Guillermina Jasso, a sociologist who studies justice evaluations, puts it: "We live in a world that rarely realizes congruence between actual earnings and just earnings." The International Social Survey asked more than 48,000 people from 40 countries if their pay is "just," given their skills and effort. More than half of respondents said "unjust."

Mondaq Wed Aug 24 2016,

In Passamaquoddy Lodge v CUPE Local 1763 2016 NBQB 056 the Court of Queen's Bench upheld an original arbitration decision condemning an employer for suspending an employee pending the outcome of a psychiatric evaluation. The Facts

Mr. Lister worked in the maintenance department at a nursing home in St. Andrews, New Brunswick and was represented by CUPE, Local 1763. The employer had become concerned for Mr. Lister's mental stability, contending he was acting "erratic" and "non-predictable". The grievor also had a history of "causing trouble" for the employer and was the object of a police investigation for a non-work related incident.

Toronto Star Tue Sep 23 2014

People's lives were at stake, never mind their health. But you wouldn't know it by the outrageously secretive attitude exhibited by both Toronto Public Health and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Their lack of reporting and openness about a private clinic where a bacterial outbreak made several patients severely ill is breathtaking. The Star's Theresa Boylestory has just reported on the severe health effects two patients now live with after they received spinal injections at the Rothbart Centre for Pain Care in North York. Anne Levac's and Tracey Martin's disabilities were caused by permanent nerve damage from bacterial infections that developed in their spines after the procedures. The disabilities have left them both incontinent and in severe pain. In all, Boyle's investigation found that nine patients were infected with bacteria at the clinic between August and November 2012.

But despite the threat to patients' health, in a web of secrecy that is mind-boggling when lives are at stake, the following occurred: The clinic's doctors did not inform patients about the outbreak, as the College of Physicians requires. Toronto Public Health did not post its inspection results online so doctors could assess whether they should recommend the clinic to patients, never mind so the patients themselves could be fully informed. Toronto Public Health went so far as to make Levac go through an expensive, complicated freedom of information request in an attempt to find out she had been infected at the clinic. Since the outbreak, the college posted online only that the clinic passed three inspections "with conditions" and a fourth without. It did not say there had been an outbreak, that nine patients became ill or that there were 170 inspection-control deficiencies at the clinic. Ironically, Toronto Public Health posts the results of inspection results online for restaurants, tattoo parlours and nail salons. But it does not feel it necessary to post results for clinics. The lack of regard for patients from all levels involved in this health care disaster is symptomatic of what can only be considered a minefield of secrecy in Canada's health care system, in general, that starts at the top with Health Canada, as recent Star investigations have demonstrated. Only by putting patients' interests first and foremost and being as transparent as possible can our health agencies protect consumers. Nothing less should be acceptable.

The Globe and Mail Sat Jul 18 2015

"The federal government should play a stronger role in spurring innovation in Canadian health care, according to an expert panel that is recommending Ottawa set up a new arm'slength agency and a $1-billion fund to transform successful pilot projects into systemwide improvements. "The report from the Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation comes just three months before a federal election in which the opposition parties are hoping to make health care a more prominent issue than it has been in recent contests. ""I think there is a moral responsibility and an onus on the federal government to come back to the table," David Naylor, the former University of Toronto president who chaired the panel, said. "I also think there's a big onus on the provinces and territories to work together with the federal government and with stakeholders and try to improve this system."

"When the panel, which was introduced by Health Minister Rona Ambrose at a splashy news conference in Toronto in June, 2014, first embarked on its cross-country research, members had to decide whether to take a narrow approach or look at the systemic problems impeding the modernization of Canada's health-care system. ""I think the flurry of submissions we received from people who had a great piece of software or who wanted to pitch some device to us suggested there was a bit of a sense that we would be headed in a Dragons' Den direction," Dr. Naylor said.

Canada’s mental-health system is underfunded and poorly co-ordinated and needs a complete overhaul to meet the needs of patients and their families, the Mental Health Commission says in its long-awaited national strategy.

recommends an immediate infusion of $4-billion annually for mental-health care; calls on employers to implement psychological health and safety standards to protect workers; says efforts to divert people with severe mental-health problems out of the justice system and into care need to be accelerated; and embraces a “housing first” philosophy to get homeless people suffering from mental illness off the streets.

Canada has had the dubious distinction of being the only G8 country without a mental-health strategy

The budget, unveiled Mar. 29 by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, will see cuts in health department spending to the tune of $309.9 million by fiscal 2014/15, some $200.6 million of which will be achieved through measures aimed at “enhancing coordination, consolidating operations and eliminating redundant activities” at Health Canada

“I'm hard pressed to see how that sort of money is going to come from consolidation of some services,” says Patty Ducharme, national executive vice-president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada. “With Health Canada, what can you consolidate that's not going to have a massive impact on the services that are delivered to Canadians?”

Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will adopt a shared services model

March 31, 2014

By Terry McEachern and Jonathan Charlton

The Raging Grannies were among activists who gathered in Saskatoon Monday to protest the expiry of the federal health accord.

Sarnia Observer Fri Oct 14 2016

A nursing association says London's largest hospital has again launched an offensive against those who speak out against changes they say harm patients, this time enlisting a lawyer to threaten nurses hosting a public meeting Friday in London. "(This) is a blatant attempt to intimidate (the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario) into staying silent on matters of interest to our members and the public. We recognize it as a bullying tactic and we will not be influenced by it in any way, shape or form," Doris Grinspun, chief executive of the nurses' association, wrote Thursday to Murray Glendining, chief executive of London Health Sciences Centre, and hospital board chair Tom Gergely. The Free Press obtained the letter.

In June, the nurses' association accused Glendining of trying to buy the silence of the hospital's chief nursing officer, Vanessa Burkoski, who came to London after being the longest-serving provincial chief nursing officer, advising three Ontario health ministers. When Burkoski, who had been a president of the nurses' association, refused to take a payout and resign quietly, she was fired, Grinspun says. Now the hospital has filed defamation lawsuits against Burkoski, Grinspun and the nurses' association and its lawyer has sent a threatening letter to the new president of the association, Carol Timmings, who will be in London Friday to speak with nurses, Grinspun said. "Your pre-emptive threat of legal proceedings against Ms. Timmings in your lawyer's letter of October 11, is baseless, abusive, and oppressive.. .. We will not be stifled, silenced nor suppressed, by LHSC or anybody else," Grinspun wrote. "It is shocking that LHSC is using public funds to pay a private law firm to engage in an aggressive campaign to silence public discussion on important health-care issues."

March 27, 2014

Bradford did not seek help immediately. “I was sort of thinking I’ll get over it,” he remembers, “I had about two months of this where I was struggling.” Then things came to a critical point when he came just short of an angry outburst while testifying in a dangerous offender’s case. “Immediately after that I sought help, I got in contact with the Physician Health Program at the Ontario Medical Association.” Bradford realized he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, an anxiety disorder characterized by reliving a psychologically traumatic situation through flashbacks and nightmares. But even after being connected with a Canadian psychiatric expert in PTSD, Bradford had further delays in receiving treatment. The PTSD expert was someone Bradford knew professionally, creating a potential conflict in the doctor-patient relationship.

“Delay in treatment was my own resistance,” he recalls. “Part of the reason that I talk about it is to help others. Not only educating people about vulnerability in medicine, but about resistance to treatment.” Bradford says that he believes “physicians are resistant to treatment, particularly for psychiatric issues. As much as we try to de-stigmatize it, it’s not an easy thing to come out and say- I suffer.”

Canada Newswire Tue Sep 30 2014

ORONTO, Sept. 30, 2014 /CNW/ - The organization that represents registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students in Ontario has issued a formal request to the provincial government for information related to medical tourism. The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is seeking all general records between 2009 to the present regarding the treatment of international patients (also known as medical tourists) not covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) in the province's hospitals. The request includes all letters, reports, briefings, agreements, hand-written notes, electronic documents and emails from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Treasury Board, Finance, Cabinet Office and the Office of the Premier. "Hospitals that are part of Toronto's University Health Network, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre have made no secret that they are open for business when it comes to treating patients from abroad for a fee," says RNAO's Chief Executive Officer Doris Grinspun, adding that the CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital is also pursuing a partnership with Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit to formalize a 'medical free-trade zone' that he says will become the 'envy of the health-care world.'

RNAO hopes the request for information will reveal where else medical tourism is occurring and to what extent the Ontario government is behind this attack on Medicare. Medical tourism is the practice of soliciting international patients for medical treatment within Canada's health system in order to turn a profit. "It will erode the viability of our health system, a cherished part of our social safety net, and shift it from one that understands its mission to treat all according to need, to an Americanized version where health-care services are for sale to those with money and power," says Grinspun. "Allowing hospitals to go shopping for patients to increase their revenue redirects precious resources away from the people who need care the most - patients in Ontario," says RNAO President, Vanessa Burkoski, adding that hospitals that engage in medical tourism are inviting lawsuits from people willing to pay a fee to get ahead of the line.

Cape Breton Post Fri Aug 15 2014

A provincial database of serious in-hospital patient safety incidents is now available online, but the numbers are not broken down for specific regions like Cape Breton. Between Jan. 1 and June 30, there were 27 such incidents across the province. The types of incidents reported include an adverse health event associated with a surgical procedure leading to patient death or serious disability, pressure ulcers being acquired by a patient after admission to a facility, and a fall at a facility leading to patient death or serious disability.

The online database was officially launched Thursday and it details the type and number of incidents but does not identify patients, providers, healthcare facilities or district health authorities involved in each. Tony Kiritsis, spokesman for Department of Health and Wellness, said keeping the data at a provincial level helps ensure the patients involved are not easily identified. "We have to balance the public reporting with the privacy and confidentiality of the patients," he said. In preparation for the online publication of serious incidents, health-care professionals at district health authorities across Nova Scotia and the IWK Health Centre began providing information on patient safety incidents in late December.

William Charney, a Seattle-based consultant and author of “Epidemic of Medical Errors and Hospital Acquired Infections: Systemic and Social Causes,” along with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, is holding a one-day conference on June 4th in Toronto

The conference will address some of the biggest contributors to the systemic and social causes of the epidemic of medical errors and HAIs in the US and Canada.

Along with William Charney, a 30-year expert as a health and safety officer in healthcare, speakers include: Joe and Terry Graedon, Kathleen Bartholomew, and Michael Hurley, the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU)

April 8, 2014

Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose said the initiative makes Canada "a world leader in the posting of drug-safety reviews and post-market access to this information."

TORONTO — Health Canada has begun posting summaries of drug safety reviews on its website with the goal of better informing the public about potential harm associated with certain medications.First on the list is the controversial acne remedy Diane-35.

Eight PEI blood collection workers, all women, all part timers, have been on strike for close to eight months now. As Rankandfile reported in January, the women want a guaranteed minimum number of hours each week. That would allow them to qualify for benefits, and bring a bit of predictability into their daily lives. Their employer, Canadian Blood Services (CBS), isn’t budging. CBS is a not-for-profit, charitable organization operating everywhere in Canada except Quebec. Its sole mission is to manage the blood supply for Canadians. Its budget of roughly $1 billion is mostly provincial money.

No matter what happens, the significance of the strike extends well beyond PEI.  The Charlottetown workers are fighting the same issues CBS workers Canada-wide are facing. Not just workers, generous donors anywhere are also encountering obstacles when looking to donate blood. Some argue that CBS is in such a rush to cut costs that it even puts the safety of our blood supply in jeopardy.

CBS likes its workers part time and precarious, not just in PEI but anywhere in Canada. That was the consensus when unions representing CBS workers all across Canada met in Vancouver last fall, Mike Davidson tells Rankandfile.  Davidson is the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) national representative for three CBS Locals in New Brunswick. “If CBS had it their way, their clinics would  be all staffed by volunteers, and if they couldn’t have that, they’d settle for an entirely casual workforce,” says Davidson. Two of the New Brunswick locals have a few part-timers with guaranteed hours, and it has been an ongoing struggle to keep it that way, Davidson says.  In all of the three New Brunswick locals there are only three full-time unionized employees. “There is no stability. (CBS) doesn’t want stability,” says Davidson. “Meanwhile, they complain about a lack of commitment by the workers.

The Globe and Mail Thu Aug 20 2015

Brody Meekis died of strep throat, a common bacterial infection that is easily cured with a round of antibiotics when diagnosed almost anywhere in the developed world. But five-year-old Brody was aboriginal and had to rely on the health care provided in his remote Ontario First Nations community. More than a year has passed since the morning his frantic mother, Wawa Keno, rushed the boy to the nursing station in Sandy Lake, a fly-in reserve 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. She still fights back tears as she recounts the final hours in the life of her normally energetic, hockey-loving son. "I just remember being so angry," Ms. Keno said during an interview in the living room of her ramshackle, two-bedroom bungalow as she and her family prepared for a feast to mark the anniversary of her son's death. "I was just in shock."

Many things went wrong in the treatment of Brody, many of them related to a shortage of medical resources in the remote indigenous community where, as with other Canadian reserves, the responsibility for health care lies with the federal government. And Brody wasn't the only First Nations child to die last year of strep. A little girl in Pikangikum, Ont., whose name is being withheld by her community, also succumbed to the disease that is rarely fatal anywhere else in Canada. Report after report has outlined the inadequacies of health-care delivery on reserves - where life expectancy is five to seven years shorter than that of the general population, where babies are more likely to die at birth, and where the rates of tuberculosis, diabetes, traumatic injury, infectious disease and suicide are statistically high.

After Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature pushed to privatize health care for the inmates in their state, they auctioned off the job of providing prisoners with health services to the highest-bidding company. Wexford Health Sources Inc. won a $349 million, three-year contract with the state prison system and took over inmate care on July 1.

the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) is stepping in to correct issues with the inadequate care

The DOC is leveling a $10,00 fine on the company for its negligence in dispensing proper medication to prisoners

Doctors and health experts alarmed that Health Canada won’t make public its reviews of drug investigations in 2013.

Top-selling antidepressants, sleep aids and diabetes drugs are among 151 secret safety reviews of medications completed by Health Canada last year, the Toronto Star has learned. The Star obtained a list of last year’s federal drug reviews that likely won’t see the light of day despite Ottawa’s new commitment to transparency. It took repeated requests made over five months to access the index. No public record of this work has existed until now. The Star shared this list with half a dozen doctors at hospitals and respected drug safety and health policy researchers, all of whom were troubled that Health Canada has no plans to publish reviews associated with many high-profile medications. The index includes reviews of brand-name pills like Seroquel, an antipsychotic. Intended primarily for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, it accounts for more than 40 per cent of prescriptions in its drug class, with sales exceeding $200 million annually (a figure that suggests it’s frequently used outside its approved purpose). Also scrutinized were asthma inhalers (Alvesco and Qvar), painkillers (Tridural and Tramacet) and the smoking-cessation drug Champix, which reportedly was linked to suicides in some users though Health Canada ruled last year that the drug’s benefits continue to outweigh its risks.

Kingston Whig-Standard Thu Jan 28 2016

The alarming issue of workplace violence at the hands of patients at some Ontario mental health hospitals was central to talks at a twoday conference hosted by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions at the Holiday Inn Kingston Waterfront that concluded Wednesday. "The purpose of the conference is to talk about issues related to their current practice," Helen Fetterly, the union's secretary treasurer and a non-practising registered practical nurse from Cornwall, said. "One of the big issues is we're seeing more violence in the workplace."

Approximately 150 registered practical nurses from across Ontario attended the conference, and Fetterly and Linda Clayborne, an RPN at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton at the mental health site and executive member of CUPE Local 786, met with the Whig-Standard to discuss the RPN's issues. Fetterly said the union was to talk about issues and form an action plan.

National Post Mon Mar 23 2015

When government monopolies fail to provide the level of service citizens expect, or when excessive regulations on an industry limits competition and drives up prices, people often seek a market-oriented solution that will provide the services they want at a price they are willing to pay. Uber offers a great example of how people are using technology to bypass the government's taxi oligopoly in many major cities. Although there is not yet an app that would allow Canadians to get a colonoscopy from a private practitioner, people in this country have, for decades, travelled abroad to bypass the long wait times that are endemic to the Canadian health-care system.

How many people are seeking medical treatment abroad? A new Fraser Institute study surveyed Canadian physicians to find out how many of their patients went out of country in search of timely care. It estimates that 52,513 people received medical care abroad in 2014, although the authors note that this estimate does not take into account those who left the country without first consulting their doctor here at home. And the number of Canadian medical tourists is growing, having risen from 41,838 in 2013. The reason may not be hard to find. A study released last year by the U.S.-based Commonwealth Fund ranked the health-care systems of 11 industrialized countries and placed Canada second to last overall. Interestingly, two countries that have similar systems to ours, the U.K. and Australia, ranked first and fourth respectively.

The Globe and Mail Wed Jun 24 2015

B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake needs to call an independent inquiry into the firing of eight ministry workers because the ongoing scandal has undermined the public's confidence in the safety of prescription medications, the fired workers say.

Speaking in a collective voice for the first time since they were fired in 2012, seven of the employees - along with the sister of a fired researcher who killed himself - said the mass dismissal interrupted their independent research to ensure quality in prescription drugs, a program they say has saved taxpayers millions of dollars annually.