North Bay Nugget
Tue Dec 1 2015
Rally draws hundreds; Province called upon to free up money for hospitals - Infomart - 0 views
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The size of your wallet should not determine the quality of health care you receive. That was the message delivered to close to 1,000 protesters calling for the provincial government to free up more money for hospitals in Northern Ontario - particularly the North Bay Regional Health Centre.
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"In North Bay, and across Northern Ontario, we are seeing the most severe cuts," said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. The rally drew supporters from across the province to protest cuts across the province. This year, the North Bay Regional Health Centre announced it is cutting almost 160 positions and closing more than 30 beds in an attempt to stave off a flood of red ink. "Here you are looking at 100 layoffs every year" if the province does not end a freeze on healthcare spending, Silas said.
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Patients' groups say health care reform is making system worse | CTV Montreal News - 0 views
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Wednesday, November 25, 2015
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An alliance of groups representing patients in Quebec believes the recently-passed Bill 20 is making health care worse. The law was approved earlier this month with the aim of giving more people access to a family doctor. At the same time the law allows doctors to charge extra fees for some services at private clinics.
Long-term care homes not up to minimum standards: report; Staffing levels an issue at 2... - 0 views
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Vancouver Sun Tue Apr 5 2016
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The vast majority of governmentfunded long-term care homes for seniors in B.C. do not meet Ministry of Health staffing guidelines. The Residential Care Facilities Quick Facts Directory, a report released by the Office of the Seniors Advocate, compiles staffing, serious incident reports and other qualityof-life measures for all publicly funded seniors homes in B.C. in 2014-15. Of the 292 governmentfunded facilities, 232 did not meet the ministry's staffing guideline, a recommendation of 3.36 hours of care per senior every day. This includes help with tasks such as toileting, feeding and bathing. Just 17 facilities
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Of the 232 government-funded seniors homes below the staffing guidelines, 74 per cent were owned and operated by private businesses instead of health authorities or by a non-profit group, such as a church. All but two of the 25 care facilities providing the lowest number of staffing hours were in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Isobel Mackenzie, the B.C. Seniors Advocate, and Jennifer Whiteside of the Hospital Employees Union, which represents care aides in long-term facilities, are calling on government to legislate minimum staffing levels instead of leaving it up to facility operators. "We regulate the staffing ratios in child care, why don't we regulate it in senior care?" said Mackenzie. She said she was surprised to learn how many seniors homes fall below provincial guidelines.
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Could Trudeau use health care to get carbon deal? - Infomart - 0 views
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The Globe and Mail Mon Sep 26 2016
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Justin Trudeau faces tough talks with provincial premiers to hammer out a national climate-change plan. But he also has a critical tool to get a deal: cash. At first blush, the meeting with premiers seems to be shaping up as a clash. The federal government wants provinces to put a price on carbon, either through a carbon tax or a capand-trade system. And if they don't, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has warned, Ottawa will slap a federal carbon tax on them. Four provinces have a carbon price now, but some premiers are wary, and Saskatchewan's Brad Wall sounds implacably opposed.
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Then again, the premiers want something, too: money. Most provinces have high debt, and fear aging populations will mean rising costs in social programs and health care. They're clamouring for Ottawa to provide bigger-than-planned increases in health transfers. In other words, the premiers can probably be bought off. Put that way, of course, it sounds cynical. But it's been a formula for federal-provincial dealmaking for decades. The federal Liberals are already promising $2.9-billion over five years for climate-change measures, including $2-billion in the next two years to start a Low Carbon Economy Fund for projects chosen with the provinces. But money for other things could also be used to grease the wheels. The provinces want bigger streams of health-care money, but so far the federal Liberals aren't promising much. On Sunday, Health Minister Jane Philpott said she's working on the assumption there won't be much change, aside from a $3-billion federal injection for home care.
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Provinces urge rethink on health cuts; Halving funding increases would cost Ontario $40... - 0 views
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Toronto Star Tue Oct 18 2016
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Canada's medicare system will be shortchanged $1 billion next year unless the federal government reverses plans to cut funding increases in half, provincial and territorial health ministers warned Monday. Forming a common front before a Tuesday meeting with their federal counterpart Jane Philpott, the ministers urged the new Liberal administration in Ottawa not to chop transfer payment hikes to 3 per cent from 6 per cent starting in 2017. Following through with the cut - a unilateral decision by the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper in 2011 - would mean $400 million less for Ontario and be a "huge blow" to patients, Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins told a news conference.
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An increase of just 3 per cent in annual transfer payments from the federal government "simply isn't sufficient to keep the lights on" in terms of maintaining the level of health care, he said. Over the next 10 years, the cut means Ottawa would be spending $60 billion less on health care - money the provinces will have to make up if they hope to maintain current level of services, the provincial ministers said in a statement. They called for the prime minister to suspend the cuts until he can meet with premiers and territorial leaders to reach a new agreement.
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Intervenors decry Charter challenge of medicare - 0 views
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CMAJ October 18, 2016 vol. 188 no. 15 First published September 19, 2016, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5330
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News Intervenors decry Charter challenge of medicare Steve Mertl + Author Affiliations Vancouver, BC Sanctioning doctors to practise in both public and private health care, and bill above the medicare fee schedule would lead to an inequitable, profit-driven system, warns a promedicare coalition opposing a Charter challenge of British Columbia laws.
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Cambie Surgeries Corp., which operates private clinics, and co-plaintiffs, launched the case against the BC government and its Medicare Protection Act. “(T)he Coalition Intervenors are here to advocate for all of those British Columbians who rely on the public system, and whose right to equitable access to health care without regard to financial means or ability to pay — the very object of the legislation being attacked — would be undermined if the plaintiffs were to succeed,” lawyer Alison Latimer said in her written opening submitted Sept. 14 to the BC Supreme Court.
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Provinces, Ottawa spar over health transfers; Ontario warns cuts will lead to 'declinin... - 0 views
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Toronto Star Wed Oct 19 2016
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Provincial and territorial health ministers are imploring Ottawa not to diminish its role as a funding partner in health care any further. Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins, who co-chaired a meeting of his counterparts from across the country on Tuesday, said funding from Ottawa will be "inadequate" if the federal government proceeds with its plans to cut the annual increase in health transfers next year.
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"(It) will result in a declining partnership," he told a news conference at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto. "What we are asking as provinces and territories is that the federal government ... not withdraw further, that we want them to sustain the level of partnership that traditionally has been there," he said. Canadians have seen that partnership "very seriously erode" since medicare was created about a half century ago when the federal government footed half the bill, Hoskins said. Today, Ottawa is paying only 20 per cent of the tab, a share that will decrease further if Ottawa next year cuts the annual increase in the Canada Health Transfer to 3 per cent from 6 per cent.
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