Group items tagged

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.

May 12, 2014

By James Armstrong  Global News

Additional data from Statistics Canada shows Ontario has fewer general government workers and fewer health care workers, percapita. than any other province.

Montreal Gazette Sat Sep 13 2014

""My story, like so many other stories in The Gazette recently, is just another example of Quebec's broken health-care system. My 88-year-old mother, who lives in the Eastern Townships, will be moving into a private long-term care home in two weeks. My siblings and I have done everything we could to prevent this from happening. Several years ago, my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In the past three years, the disease had progressed to the point where she could not be alone. We contacted our local CLSC. After an assessment, it determined she would be given seven hours of assistance per week to ensure she was eating. My mother could not cook, did not know what day it was, and had difficulty dressing and with hygiene. Instead, the family hired a local woman to spend eight hours a day with our mother. Last year, the woman spent eight hours a day and the CLSC did its annual assessment and offered only two hours per day. During this period, my mother had a series of falls, and refused to change her clothes or bathe. She turned the heat off one winter weekend and the pipes froze. Still, the CLSC offered nothing more. The family continued to pay for homecare until she was hospitalized after a fall.

I have spent the past 10 months caring for my mother in her home. When I left my family in Ontario to come here, I worked on getting her the services she needed and deserved. I was met with an uncaring, unprofessional system. I have dealt with four different social workers. I contacted the local MP asking for help and he never responded. I filed a complaint with the complaints commissioner and it went nowhere. It was only after I threatened to sue them for negligence that they acted. They offered 21 hours per week, the maximum, which is simply nowhere near enough. It's an unfortunate end to what has otherwise been a good life for our mother. She, like so many like her, will end her days in a strange place, when all she wanted was to live in her own home and die there. Nancy Fraser Stanstead

Toronto Star Tue May 5 2015

Pattern of neglect, Editorial April 29 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will conclude on June 3, with much of the truth revealed but reconciliation still a hopeful vision. Making it a reality will be the work of all Canadians. We will need to unlearn racist ideas, relearn a history that did not tell the whole story and foster new relationships. But reconciliation also requires huge changes in indigenous communities where dramatic inequities continue to exist, as highlighted by your editorial. Until First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples experience the same level of health, education and social services as others in Canada, reconciliation will remain a noble aspiration. Jennifer Henry, executive director, KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives

May 04, 2015

byPaul Buchheit

Law enforcement, education, health care, water management, government itself -- all have been or are being privatized. People with money get the best of each service. At the heart of privatization is a disdain for government and a distrust of society, and a mindless individualism that leaves little room for cooperation. Adherents of privatization demand 'freedom' unless they need the government to intervene on their behalf. These privatizers have a system: 

Peter Hicks April 9, 2015

According to Hicks, the welfare state’s approach of addressing the broadly defined needs of broadly defined groups of beneficiaries in a broadly uniform manner at a single point in time is simply no longer adequate.

The evidence base generated by the system of big statistics

The Hamilton Spectator Fri May 29 2015

Blowing the whistle on McMaster Children's' Hospital's failure to properly prepare staff to handle the deadly Ebola virus last year has earned a provincial honour for Hamilton labour activist Kathy MacKinnon. She received the Ontario Health and Safety Award from the Canadian Union of Public Employees this week for exposing the facility's lack of worker training and protective equipment.

"Kathy has been on their case quite often over the last 25 years," said Dave Murphy, president of CUPE Local 7800, representing 3,800 Hamilton Health Sciences workers. "She was instrumental in the Ebola case after the hospital said they were ready for it and we found out they weren't." A spokesperson for Hamilton Health Sciences did not respond by deadline.

MJ 2015; 351 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h4266 (Published 07 August 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h4266

Bryan Christie

An open debate has begun on the future of health and social care services in Scotland, inspired by the high level of public engagement seen in last year’s independence referendum.The “national conversation” seeks to involve the public in determining the priorities that will be set for the NHS over the next 15 years. It has been welcomed by doctors’ leaders, but they warn that the exercise needs to take account of the pressures on the system if the outcomes …

BMJ 2015; 351 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h3974 (Published 21 July 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h3974

Ingrid Torjesen

Vulnerable patients are being discharged from hospital unsafely and sent home to situations where they have inadequate support because of lack of coordination between health, social care, and community services, an investigation by the healthcare consumer organisation Healthwatch England has found.The investigation was based on the experiences of discharge of 3230 people considered as vulnerable (elderly people, homeless people, and people with mental health conditions) and on information gathered from trusts through freedom of information legislation and from surveys of patients. It showed that although patients …

Report: The Importance of Home Supportfor an Aging Population

What kind of services and supports are needed for seniors to maintain their independence, remain socially engaged and still be supported as their health declines?

Winnipeg Free Press Fri Aug 28 2015

CANADIANS spend more on taxes than on food, clothing and shelter combined, according to a study released Thursday. The study by the Fraser Institute shows the average Canadian family spent 42.1 per cent of its income on taxes while 36.6 per cent went to the combined basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter. In its study, the non-partisan, public policy think-tank looked at an average family in Canada earning $79,010 in 2014. While 42.1 per cent of that income went to taxes, just 21 per cent was spent on shelter, 11 per cent on food and five per cent on clothing.

That translated to $33,272 in total taxes compared to $28,887 on food, clothing and shelter combined. "With growth in the total tax bill outpacing the cost of basic necessities, taxes now eat up more family income, so families have less money available to spend, save or pay down household debt," Charles Lammam, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the study, said in a statement. However, a community advocate cautions people should remember taxes cover programs such as health care that would have to be paid by families as necessities if those programs didn't exist. "There's no question we're paying far more in taxes, but what tends to be really misleading is to state that we are paying more in taxes than we are paying in necessities in life when you take into account medicare because that's part of the reasons taxes went up after 1961," said Harold Dyck, a community social-assistance advocate with Winnipeg Harvest, referring to Canada establishing its universal health-care program. A key focus of the study was a comparison of taxes paid in 2014 by families with taxes paid by families in 1961. It found an average family's tax bill has risen 1,886 per cent in the past 53 years while average income increased by 1,480 per cent, a slower rate than taxes.

The Globe and Mail Thu Sep 3 2015

The Assembly of First Nations says aboriginal voters could be deciding factors in as many as 51 ridings and, in a close race, could determine the outcome of the Oct. 19 federal election - if they actually cast ballots. But AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde might have undercut his organization's campaign to mobilize aboriginal voters with a frank admission that he's never voted in the past and doesn't intend to do so this time either.

"It's a very personal choice," Mr. Bellegarde told a news conference Wednesday. He said he's never voted because he's been in various First Nations leadership roles and wanted to preserve the appearance of impartiality. Moreover, Mr. Bellegarde said he was following the advice of First Nations elders who advised him against voting, arguing that the Crown has treaty obligations that must be honoured no matter which party forms government.

The Hamilton Spectator Tue Sep 1 2015

During my 30 years as a family physician practising in downtown Hamilton, many of my patients struggled with the cost of prescription drugs. I frequently found myself begging drug company representatives for "samples" to give to patients with inadequate or no drug coverage. Canadians spend more on prescription drugs than any of the 33 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), except the United States. We're the only country with a universal health-care system that doesn't cover medications. In a recent Angus Reid Institute poll, one in four Canadians (23 per cent) reported that in the past year they or someone in their household did not take their medication as prescribed because of cost. The numbers are higher for younger adults, lower income Canadians and those with no or limited drug coverage. An overwhelming majority (88 per cent) agree that "Every Canadian - regardless of income - should have access to necessary prescription medication."

More than 100 health policy experts and health-care leaders from across the country have endorsed the Pharmacare 2020 campaign recommendations for a universal, single-payer, publicly accountable pharmacare program. And earlier this month, Hamilton's city council passed a motion calling on the provincial, territorial and federal governments to implement a universal pharmacare program. So what are we waiting for? The usual argument against universal pharmacare is that we can't afford it.

Toronto Star Tue Sep 1 2015

David MacKinnon admits he sometimes feels like a lone voice in the wilderness. Perched at his lakeside home in bucolic Prince Edward County, the respected former high-ranking bureaucrat in Ontario and Nova Scotia warns that Canada's crumbling "fiscal architecture" hurts the economy. The archaic way Ottawa redistributes taxpayers' money around the country - through the national wealth-sharing equalization program and federal transfers for health and social services - may in fact do more harm than good, he says.

"I'm a Maritimer and I've watched it all my life with great professional concern. What we've got is that several provinces now have no serious economic viability except for constant subsidies by other Canadians," said MacKinnon. His comments refer to handouts to Atlantic Canada from taxpayers in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Mental health advocate Michael Sheehan lauds report's findings

Jun 27, 2015

Teens can experience anxiety as they try to find their own way in the world.

Toronto Star Thu Jul 9 2015

At a time when the number of people with dementia is rising, a state of the art home for Alzheimer's patients in north Toronto is on the verge of bankruptcy - because many of its beds are empty. B'nai Brith, which opened the home's doors to the public 18 months ago, has struggled to fill the 44 rooms and pay the bills despite $5.4-million funding from the federal government and the assistance of Western University's Ivey International Centre for Health Innovation.

As of two weeks ago, the home had $65,000 in reserves and a cash "burn rate" of $50,000 a month. It owes $11 million to creditors, including a bank, a construction company and firms that leased televisions, washing machines, DVD players, Nintendo Wii game systems and a karaoke machine, all part of the care package that families pay $7,500 a month to support. "Hopefully, someone else will come in and take the home over, and take it to the next level," new B'nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn said in an interview.

July 09, 2015

The new hospital will be the first one purpose built as a Collaborative Emergency Centre. Visitors would enter one door and have access to many services including emergency care, radiology, labs, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, family physicians and the East Cumberland Lodge.

September 6, 2015

Michael Hurley and Sam Gindin

If unions can't affect something as basic as the daily oppression of overwork and its link to injuries and constant physical and mental exhaustion, it's all the less likely that they can develop member confidence in broader collective action.

Alberni Valley Times Fri Sep 11 2015

Re: 'Care facility in Tofino unlikely' AV Times Page 3, Sept. 4 The tone in the comments of VIHA spokesman Suzanne Germaine as quoted in the Friday edition of the AV Times (an article reprinted from the Westerly News), are enough to raise the hackles of anyone in the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional Health District. She says VIHA must "focus its limited budget on areas of greatest need." I guess we should not be surprised that, in VIHA's estimation, the needs of Nanaimo and Qualicum continue to trump the needs of Port Alberni and Tofino.

These remarks display their complete ignorance of the geographical, cultural and social differences between Nanaimo-Qualicum and Port Alberni-Tofino. It's easy to sit in an office in Victoria and figure that funding care beds in Nanaimo and Qualicum should pacify residents here. Ms. Germaine states that VIHA is funding services to "allow folks to live at home for longer." That's all well and good, but there comes a time when living at home is just too much strain for the family and outright dangerous for the patient, and that is when a care facility must be available. In Nanaimo and Qualicum the median income levels are higher than here, there are those who can afford private care beds at $5,000 to $7,000 per month, and private facilities are available. Private care homes do not exist here. The only care homes in this regional health district are those that VIHA will fund.

Miramichi Leader Wed Sep 23 2015

Apparently unmoved by a commitment from senior government officials to work hard to ensure their wages, benefits, pensions and job security is protected once a new privately operated nursing home is built in the city, unionized nursing home staff took to the streets in protest once again on a chilly Monday morning. Dozens of workers clad in their now-familiar, red anti-P3 shirts marched down Water Street from the Miramichi Senior Citizens Home to the constituency office of Tourism Minister Bill Fraser with Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" providing the soundtrack. This latest demonstration comes just days after Social Development Minister Cathy Rogers and Fraser, the Liberal MLA for Miramichi, said they were committed to doing whatever they could to address some of the labour-related concerns that have been front and centre since the 240-bed facility was announced in May.

Nurses and support staff from Mount St. Joseph Nursing Home and the Senior Citizens Home have been worried that the transfer to the new private building will mean they will have to start their careers from scratch and compete for jobs in a wider pool of candidates despite have decades of experience in some cases. They have been vocal about these issues throughout the summer and after Fraser eventually emerged from his officer a little before 11 a.m., the demonstrators quickly presented him with a petition signed by 10,000 people who are against instituting a P3 model in the new home. Fraser spoke to the group gathered outside his office for several minutes and committed to presenting the petition in the legislative assembly on their behalf.