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Irene Jansen

OCHU Epidemic of Medical Errors and Hospital Acquired Infections - 2012 Conference - 2 views

www.prweb.com/...prweb9378564.htm

ontario cupe hai conference safety errors

shared by Irene Jansen on 30 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • 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)
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  • To register for the conference or for more information, please visit the OCHU website: http://www.ochu.on.ca/conferences_conventions.html.
  • speakers and contributors will be discussing possible next steps to be taken in the healthcare community
  • the conference will address issues such as for-profit care and factory medicine, staffing ratios, under reporting, shiftwork and working conditions, bullying in the workplace
  • William Charney, is a nine-time published author of healthcare safety books. He has also published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles in the field. For five years, Mr. Charney was a safety officer at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Quebec. For ten years, he was the director of environmental health at the Department of Public Health in San Francisco. Then for five years, he was a safety coordinator for the Washington Hospital Association. For the last ten years, he has been a consultant in the field of occupational health.
Irene Jansen

OCHU president warns Drummond report is chapter one in a move to privatize Ontario's he... - 0 views

cupe.ca/...ond-report-liberals-cover-move

drummond ontario cupe

shared by Irene Jansen on 16 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • the Don Drummond report on the review of Ontario’s public services is chapter one in a move to privatize Ontario’s health care system, charges Michael Hurley the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE)
  • By unbundling medical procedures currently available through public hospitals into a patchwork of private clinics and pushing patients into a home care system where 10,000 Ontarians are already waiting for supports, the Liberals are setting the stage for health care privatization
  • The private clinics will be funded on a fee-for-service basis, a model that in the United Kingdom has opened the door to privatization and increased costs
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  • While the health minister argues that for now these clinics will be set up as not-for-profit there is the potential for a mega-multinational health care outfit to buy them
  • Ontario’s air ambulance company ORNGE – was set up by the Liberals as a not-for-profit.  Even within the not-for-profit framework ORNGE principals found ways to slip in the profit motive. “They gamed the system for millions of dollars of public funds.
  • Ontario hospitals are considered the most efficient in the country and among the best in patient outcomes.  While hospitals are far from perfect, says Hurley, there are long-established oversight and accountability measures both in terms of care standards and financial controls.
  • Often patients have complex conditions that require a full range of specialized supports
Irene Jansen

For less than 0.1% of the budget, Liberals set to deepen poverty < Government, Ontario ... - 0 views

cupe.ca/...et-liberals-set-deepen-poverty

cupe poverty ontario budget

shared by Irene Jansen on 03 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) said that for less than 0.1 per cent of the overall budget, the Liberal government stands poised to deepen the crisis of poverty in Ontario by freezing social assistance and delaying planned increases in child benefits.
  • “Freezing welfare only saves the province about $90 million
  • if corporate taxes had been raised back to the previous rate of 14 per cent, it could have raised $2 billion in one year alone
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  • Patti Jo Encinas, a CUPE Ontario health care worker and vice-president of OCHU. “Today, the government has no shame as it cravenly passes the buck by freezing social assistance rates, slashing public sector services and gutting workers’ pensions.
Govind Rao

North Bay hospital staff report staggeringly high workplace violence rates: Poll - Info... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|nxbg|20160401|243817284

from heather cupe Ontario hospital violence poll nursing nurses pn lpn

shared by Govind Rao on 04 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • Fri Apr 1 2016
  • NORTH BAY, ONTARIO --(Marketwired - April 1, 2016) - A poll of North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) staff conducted earlier this week shows "staggeringly high rates of workplace violence with virtually no resolve from the hospital," said Michael Hurley president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) that commissioned the poll.
  • The poll shows that registered practical nurses (RPNs) and personal support workers (PSWs) doing direct patient care, are dealing with disproportionately higher rates of workplace violence. 86 per cent of the nurses and PSWs polled experienced incidents of physical violence such as pushing, hitting or having things thrown at them in the last year.
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  • What's more said Hurley at a media conference to release the poll findings, "it's a grim and concerning reality that despite the fact incidents are happening almost daily, workers fear reprisal and incidents are under-reported". The majority of respondents said that in the last year, in the workplace they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence, but many said they had experienced nine or more occurrences.
  • 59 per cent of the poll respondents are RPNs or PSWs. Of those respondents 73 per cent are women. 41 per cent of respondents provided other important support services at NBRHC. A high number, 81 per cent also indicated they witnessed incidents of physical and non-physical violence toward co-workers in the last year.
  • 40 per cent of respondents had experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault either physical or non-physical in the last year. "These workers are largely women. This is violence against women that's being allowed to happen here. In what other workplace would sexual harassment and sexual violence, at this level be tolerated?" Asked Sharon Richer, OCHU north eastern
  • Ontario vice-president. The poll also points to a climate of intimidation in the workplace and an under-reporting of incidents. 51 per cent responded that they are afraid of reprisal if they speak up about an incident of violence. The poll shows that there are far-more incidents of violence experienced by respondents than are actually reported. "The findings show violence is pervasive in this workplace. It's an unsafe work environment where something is standing in the way of workers reporting incidents. There is a fear of reprisal if you report. There is also under-reporting, which is linked to reprisal. There is no doubt people are afraid to speak out," said Hurley. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Michael Hurley OCHU President 416-884-0770 Sharon Richer OCHU, Vice-President North Eastern Ontario 705-280-0911 Stella Yeadon CUPE Communications 416-559-9300 Source: Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU)
Heather Farrow

Premier 'unprincipled' - union official; Wynne accused of throwing hospital officials u... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|nbng|20160816|253948606

cupe Ontario hospital cuts campaign

shared by Heather Farrow on 16 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • North Bay Nugget Tue Aug 16 2016
  • Blame for ongoing cuts to staff and services at North Bay and other hospitals across Ontario lies squarely with the provincial Liberal government, says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE). In an interview Friday with The Nugget, Premier Kathleen Wynne blamed hospital administrators for the cuts.
  • We've committed $1 billion in additional funding in health care dollars and that translates to $340 million for hospitals -North Bay will be receiving an additional $2.3 million this year," Wynne said. "There's been no funding cuts.
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  • Every year there has been an increase, but it's health care facilities and hospitals who make the decisions on how they're going to staff." "She is completely wrong," Hurley replied in a release. "Blame goes to her government's health policies and too low funding for hospitals. "Throwing hospital administrators under the bus for provincial government funding decisions is, in our view, unprincipled."
  • North Bay's hospital, built as a private-public partnership (P3) facility, is more expensive to operate than a typical hospital, Hurley said. During the 2003 election, the provincial Liberal's promised to cancel the North Bay P3 and to build the hospital as a publicly owned entity. "They reneged on that promise and yet have provided no special support for the significantly higher costs of this model. Now they are blaming them for cuts," said Hurley.
  • OCHU says successive Ontario Liberal health ministers have made no bones about downsizing hospital care. Since the Liberals were elected over a dozen years ago, funding for hospitals has fallen compared to other provinces. In the past several years, Ontario hospital funding "has lagged well behind the cost pressures associated with an aging population and inflation, OCHU says. This too low funding - well under the hospitals' real operating costs - has resulted in serious cuts to staff and services at North Bay and many other hospitals province-wide.
  • That's the root of blame for hospital staffing and program cuts," said Hurley. Provincial funding at its current levels has meant that in the past five years alone, North Bay has cut $20.7 million, OCHU says. The 2016 provincial budget gives hospitals a one per cent increase, it adds. However costs, driven by drugs and medical technologies will be closer to four per cent, "so another round of cuts is coming. It is completely unfair and below the premier to blame the managers of the hospital for this," said Hurley.
  • Wynne said the province is in the midst of a transformation of health care. "People want health care at home. People are looking for care for themselves and for their parents or grandparents. They want to know we are going to continue to invest in home care."
  • When asked what types of investment the province will commit to long-term care, Wynne acknowledged there are gaps in long-term care beds. "A review of the province's longterm care beds has been done by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and decisions will be out soon." © 2016 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved.
Heather Farrow

Ontario and Kingston come up short in terms of health spending: unions - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|pgki|20160811|253577119

cupe Ontario hospital campaign cuts

shared by Heather Farrow on 11 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Kingston Heritage Thu Aug 11 2016
  • News -According to a new study done by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) and CUPE, hospital funding in Ontario is much lower than hospital funding in the rest of Canada "It is a big problem and it is getting worse," said Mike Rodrigues, president of CUPE 1974 (Kingston General Hospital). "We have done some research and now we are ready to present our findings to both the public and the government." The findings, which were acquired using data available from the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHC),
  • were released on Aug. 2 at the Seniors Centre in Kingston. CUPE and the OCHU looked at data relating to hospital beds, levels of care, admissions and readmissions and of course overall funding and they focused on comparing Ontario to the rest of Canada. "We wanted to release this report to draw attention to the fact that provincially, by our calculations, Ontario is about $4.8 billion short compared to all the other provinces in terms of how we fund our hospitals," said Michael Hurley, president of the OCHU. "We are calling on the government to make a real investment and at least fund these hospitals at their real costs."
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  • According to CIHI, Ontario government per capita funding for hospitals is $1,395.73. The rest of Canada, excluding Ontario, spends $1,749.69 per capita on hospitals. In other words, provincial and territorial governments outside of Ontario spend $353.96 more per person on hospitals than Ontario does, or roughly 25 per cent more. According to the findings, these numbers have increased steadily over the years and in 2005-2006 the gap between Canada and Ontario was at just 4.3 per cent.
  • "With working in the hospital you see reductions and they may seem small at first, but year-to-year you really see their growing impact," said Rodrigues. "Our front line workers hear the frustrations. They also hear about being sent home too early and see the readmissions." According to the report, Ontario has the fewest number of hospital beds in
  • any province and the length of hospital stays continue to be reduced for this reason. This decrease leads to an increase in readmissions. "We have a drop in admissions and an increase in readmissions," explained Hurley. "In terms of readmissions, Ontario is higher than the rest of Canada and Kingston is actually higher than the rest of Ontario. From our point of view, readmissions represent failures of the system to actually repair people properly."
  • The report also looked at funding for homecare and long-term care, an area the government has claimed they are expanding to meet growing needs. "We have been told that investments are being made in those areas," said Hurley. "But long-term care is 7.2 per cent behind the rest of the country and for homecare and community care we spend 14.3 per cent less. We have the fewest number of hospital beds, so you think we would have the most vibrant homecare system, but in fact we underspend."
  • Overall, Hurley emphasized that while hospitals require about a three per cent increase year to year to keep up with inflationary needs, hospitals in Ontario and in Kingston are only receiving about one per cent. "The increase should actually be around five per cent when you take into account additional pressures like population growth and aging and we are nowhere near that," he said. "Because of that we see nursing and staff cuts as a result and that is not acceptable." In terms of staffing, the reports conclude that in Kingston, across all hospitals, approximately 137 registered nurses and about 407 other staff would need to be added to equal comparable staffing in other provinces like Manitoba or New Brunswick.
  • That is a lot of people," said Hurley. "This lack of staffing means there is less care in the hospital for mothers who have just given birth, or people recovering from surgery and than again leads to readmissions and complications." So what can be done about these issues?
  • "People can talk to their Member of Provincial Parliament about these issues. That would be really appreciated," said Hurley. "We are doing these reports in every major community in the province and we are hoping to get some traction with the government to increase the funding." Illustration:
  • Mandy Marciniak / Michael Hurley, president of the OCHU (left) and Mike Rodrigues, president of CUPE 1974 (Kingston General Hospital).
Govind Rao

Movement of hospital services to private clinics is dangerous and expensive union will ... - 0 views

cupe.ca/...ment-hospital-services-private

from heather cupe ontario hospital privatization private clinics

shared by Govind Rao on 07 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Jan 20, 2014
  • North Bay, Ont. – Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will present on Wednesday, January 22 at 11:00 a.m. to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, at the Ontario budget consultations in North Bay. The hearings will take place at the Best Western Hotel, 700 Lakeshore Drive, North Bay, Ontario.
  • Hurley will tell the committee that “the movement of surgeries and procedures to private clinics will be much more costly and result in higher death rates. It will lead to smaller community hospital closures and open the door to corporate delivery of these procedures. Ontario health policy also exploits personal support workers (PSWs) as sweatshop labour in an under-resourced home care system, leading to a 60% annual turnover in caregivers and is unsustainable.”&nbsp;
Govind Rao

Professional Liabilty Insurance for Registered Practical Nurses in OCHU/CUPE - 0 views

www.ochu.on.ca/rofessional_liability_ins.html

from heather ontario cupe hospital pn nursing

shared by Govind Rao on 11 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Ontario Council of Hospital Unions / CUPE has partnered with LMS PROLINK to provide Professional Liability Protection (PLP) exclusively for Registered Practical Nurses who are members of OCHU / CUPE. For over 30 years LMS PROLINK has been a 100% Canadian owned independent insurance brokerage serving members of unions and associations.We are pleased to announce that OCHU and LMS PROLINK have found a solution that is not only cost-effective, but provides comprehensive coverage required by RPN’s in Ontario. Starting date of coverage is March 31, 2014
Govind Rao

Eastern Ontario ground zero for hospital downsizing with deep service and bed cuts | CU... - 0 views

www.cupe2544.ca/with-deep-service-and-bed-cuts

from heather hospital ontario cuts cupe campaign

shared by Govind Rao on 18 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Posted on February 16, 2014
  • Eastern Ontario ground zero for hospital downsizing&nbsp;with deep service and bed cuts at&nbsp;Renfrew, Arnprior, Perth, Smiths Falls and Ottawa hospitals
  • RENFREW, Ont. –&nbsp;With the recent announcement that the Renfrew hospital plans to cut birthing and obstetrics services, eastern Ontario hospitals are quickly becoming ground zero for health service cuts in Ontario, says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU). Downsizing hospitals, cutting beds and shedding services is the basis for the provincial Liberal government’s health care delivery reforms. Small rural hospitals are particularly threatened under this plan.
Govind Rao

Ontario Council of Hospital Unions - defending healthcare in every community - 0 views

www.ochu.on.ca

from heather cupe Ontario private clinics privatization

shared by Govind Rao on 17 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • Request for an inquest was denied; Family sues hospital for son's death, Sept. 12 Toronto Star - Mon Sep 16 2013 Family sues hospital for son's death, Sept. 12
  • the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), which represents front-line staff at St. Joseph's in Hamilton where the death occurred, publicly called for an inquest.
  • Mandatory flu shot for health staff misdirected November 2, 2012To save lives, prevent thousands of needless deaths stop provincial policies that cause medical errors, bed sores and superbug ... [Read More]infections
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  • To target health care workers and take away their right to choose by making the flu shot mandatory, is misdirected in the face of recent evidence that 41 per cent of people who get a flu vaccine receive no protection against the flu,” says Michael Hurley the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU).
  • Mandatory Flu Vaccinations for Health Care Workers CUPE encourages health care workers to get an influenza vaccination if they can safely do so. But making flu shots mandatory for health care workers is a serious intrusion on the freedom and personal autonomy of health care workers that may sometimes have detrimental effects on their own health.Forcing people to take flu shots against their will may well undermine public confidence in vaccination programs, even vaccination programs with an excellent results and high safety standards.
  • Govind Rao on 16 Oct 13
     
    Union calls for halt to move procedures from hospitals to private clinics Submission by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions / CUPE on the Proposed amendment to O. Reg. 264/07 made under the Local Health System Integration Act, 2006 and A Regulation under the Independent Health Facilities Act - Prescribed Persons .  The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions / CUPE represents 30,000 workers in hospitals across the province, including Registered Practical Nurses, service workers, and administrative workers. We are opposed to the government’s plan to move surgical, diagnostic, and other work from public hospitals to private clinics. Our objections can be summarized as falling within seven distinct areas: 1] Quality • Even minor operations can go wrong. We believe that, in contrast with hospitals, it is unlikely private clinics will be able to handle emergencies and that they will likely simply call EMS. Will ambulances be able to move patients to hospitals when things go wrong? (We say “when” advisably, as sooner or later there will be problems.) Indeed, private surgical clinics first came to public attention when a patient died and the paramedics arrived to find a patient with no vital signs. Is it appropriate to establish a system that inherently requires extra time to effectively treat patients who fall into emergency situations? This is particularly troubling as underfunding and restructuring have challenged EMS response times. The government and government officials must be prepared to accept responsibility for such deaths if this plan is approved. 
Govind Rao

Tentative settlement OCHU Oct 2013 - 0 views

www.ochu.on.ca/events.html

from heather cupe Ontario hospital bargaining

shared by Govind Rao on 01 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • All Presidents' Meeting October 8 2013
  • OCHU/OSLA Patient Hotline Report Release 2014 The study Pushed Out of Hospital, Abandoned at Home: After Twenty Years of Budget Cuts, Ontario’s Health System is Failing Patients, chronicles the qualitative experiences of hundreds of patients and their families from across Ontario, who called a 1-800 patient hotline. Set up for over a period of a year, the patient hotline is a joint initiative of the Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (OSLA) and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) the hospital division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Irene Jansen

Stop medical errors, hospital infections: Save tens of thousands of lives and billions ... - 0 views

cupe.ca/...cal-errors-hospital-infections

hai safety errors ontario cupe campaign

shared by Irene Jansen on 10 May 12 - No Cached
  • Thousands of Ontarians die needlessly due to medical errors, hospital-acquired infections and cost-cutting each year. So say the authors of a new book titled Epidemic of Medical Errors and Hospital-Acquired Infections, who will begin a 15-community tour this week
  • Thousands of Ontarians die needlessly due to medical errors, hospital-acquired infections and cost-cutting each year. So say the authors of a new book titled Epidemic of Medical Errors and Hospital-Acquired Infections, who will begin a 15-community tour this week that includes Toronto, Montreal, Thunder Bay and Windsor.
  • Ottawa: Thursday, May 10 (9:30 a.m.) at 330 Kent St. (Royal Canadian Legion-Lower Hall) Brockville: Thursday, May 10 (4 p.m.) at 180 Park St (Royal Canadian Legion) Cornwall: Thursday, May 10 (1 p.m.) at 800 7th St West (Benson Centre) Toronto: June 4 at the Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. W.
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  • In Canada, it’s estimated between 56,000 and 63,000 people die as a result of medical errors and hospital-acquired infections – the second leading cause of death.
  • preventable medical errors are going to get worse if the Ontario government cuts hospital budgets and thousands more beds
  • To find out more about the June 4 conference go to: http://www.ochu.on.ca/conferences_conventions.html
Irene Jansen

Corporations Out of Health Care: OCHU report < Hospitals, Privatization, Ontario | CUPE - 0 views

cupe.ca/...ations-health-care-ochu-report

privatization union heather ontario

shared by Irene Jansen on 26 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • CUPE’s hospital sector in Ontario, the Ontario Council of Hospital unions (OCHU), has long since argued against contracting-out health care work to for-profit corporations and businesses.
  • Paying for profit is a waste of taxpayers' dollars and usually contributes to poor health care quality, which is dangerous to the public and to workers. Little training, few supplies, feeling rushed, high staff turnover, high staff injury rates, little team work and poor working conditions are often the problems of working for health care corporations.
Govind Rao

OCHU Community Campaigns | Ontario's hospital funding and cutbacks - 0 views

www.ochu.on.ca/community_campaigns.php

from heather cupe Ontario hospital cuts campaign

shared by Govind Rao on 25 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • 17/September/2015 11:55 AMNORTH BAY, Ont. – With the announcement today of at least 140 additional full-time staff cuts and the closure of 30 to 40 beds, North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) “is being eviscerated and patient care will suffer dramatically,” says Michael Hurley the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU).
Govind Rao

Workplace Integration of New Nurses - Nursing the Future (WINN-NTF) Conference Nov 30 t... - 0 views

www.winn-ntf.com

nursing fromdelicious from heather conference

shared by Govind Rao on 07 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • Workplace Integration for New Nurses (WINN) Nursing The Future (NTF) proudly presents…
  • KEYNOTE SPEAKER Marlene Kramer, PhD, RN, FAAN &nbsp; Challenges Encountered by New Graduates Integrating into the Contemporary Practice Setting Evening Address Tuesday, April 29, 2014 Facilitating A Successful Transition for New Nurses: The Role of Residency Programs Welcome Address Wednesday, April 30, 2014
  • Govind Rao on 07 Nov 13
     
    OCHU went to the 2010 conference in Ontario - Helen Fetterly and Diane Morin
  • Govind Rao on 07 Nov 13
     
    OCHU went to the 2010 conference in Ontario - Helen Fetterly and Diane Morin
Govind Rao

Composition of Ontario task force reviewing hospital violence against nurses is skewed ... - 0 views

www.ochu.on.ca/...k_force_workplace_violence.php

from heather cupe Ontario hospital pn lpn nursing government violence campaign

shared by Govind Rao on 20 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • 13/August/2015
  • Ottawa, ON – A task force to review violence against nurses in hospital settings has tripped at the starting gate, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU) said today. “ Registered Practical Nurses, who make up a large and growing part of the nursing team are not represented on this provincial task force, although they are assaulted by patients every day of the week. The task force is, however, loaded with employer and government representatives,“ said Michael Hurley, president of OCHU.
Govind Rao

Hospitals need money: Unions - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246243|sust|20150728|225807253

from heather cupe Ontario hospital campaign cuts

shared by Govind Rao on 28 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • The Sudbury Star Tue Jul 28 2015
  • The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions is calling on the Ontario government to end what it calls a five-year funding freeze for Health Sciences North that is now in its fourth year. During a press conference in Sudbury on Monday, officials with the council said the freeze has hit Northern Ontario patients hard, and that it's time for Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault to speak out on the issue.
  • "Sudbury and Northern Ontario overall are more affected by hospital cutbacks, which are exacerbated by the challenges of geography and by poverty and health status. As one of only four Liberal MPPs from northern Ontario, Mr. Thibeault has a responsibility to advocate for increased funding for hospitals and to stand up for the patients and their families," the OCHU's Michael Hurley said in a release. The hospital union council recently updated a report to include information specifically on Northern Ontario, entitled Pushed Out of Northern Hospitals, Abandoned at Home: After Twenty Years of Budget Cuts, Ontario's Health System is Failing Patients. "The hospital is in year four of a five-year funding freeze, so to bring the hospitals up to where they would be able to function -it's a 5.8% increase," said said OCHU northeast Ontario vice-president Sharon Richer. "Pharmaceuticals is an issue where their price go up year after year, equipment costs for the hospital goes up, doctors' wages go up, so it does add a pressure to northern hospitals.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • "We are asking for the reopening of the chronic beds and alternative level of care beds which have been closed because of the funding freeze. We are asking that the provincial government stop the closure of acute care beds and to put funding back into the public sector and not the private sector," said Richer. According to Sudbury District Health Unit data, Sudbury/ Manitoulin has greater rates for obesity, arthritis, and high blood pressure and death than the Ontario average.
  • "They are decreasing the funding to the hospital and they are increasing the amount of funding they are putting into home care, but we have yet to see that," Richer said. "Many patients who are in hospital who need home care, their family is asked if they are able to perform any type of care for them and as soon as the family says yes, then that is when home care is very much decreased. "The patients in Northern Ontario, that need cleaning of wounds or changing of dressing, many of them have to go into a clinic, nobody is able to go into their homes so that definitely is an issue for the rest of the family members who have to book off time to get their loved ones into a clinic. "We are currently seeing no extra funding put into home care for these individuals and when they are on a list, the list is very significant, so when they are actually able to receive care it's sometimes too late."
  • Hurley said patients are suffering as hospital's try to balance their books. "What families experience when they are sent home is that they are asked 'is there anybody who can help with the patient,' and if you answer yes to that, then you don't actually get to access care because you don't need it, but if you need it, then you are put on a triage system and only the most urgent cases actually get access to home care -that's the sad reality," said Hurley "What people experience ... is that they are sent home by themselves, and often they are sent home when they are still acutely ill. They are sent home when they have needs like IVs, complex mobility issues which are far beyond the abilities of their aged spouses to deal with -that's what we do we just send them home and this then becomes individualized and becomes an individual problem of care."
  • Dan Lessard, media and public relations officer for Health Sciences North, said the freeze on the hospital's budget has had little to no effect on the organizations ability to treat patients. "One of the things that we have done, recognizing that hospital base budgets have been relatively static for the past four years, is we have really launched into an exercise of trying to find as many efficiencies as we can so that we get more use out of the dollars that we already have," said Lessard.
  • Lessard said that creating efficiencies means anything from eliminating vacancies for positions that have had little to no applicants, reducing overtime through better scheduling, and reorganizing the way supplies are ordered and managed. "I think we have been pretty good at maintaining our services so what we have really tried to do is look at areas where we can be more efficient and smarter in the way we do things so that we are not causing patient services to suffer," Lessard said.
  • "That's the last thing we want to do, that's the last thing our patients want us to do, certainly the last thing the community wants us to do is to put in place measures that is going to impact patient care. "I think we have done a pretty good job at maintaining our services and maintaining the quality of care that we are giving patients -it's not easy, it is challenging and demanding but we have very very smart people here working very hard to make that happen." Thibeault, the Sudbury MPP, did not return phone calls asking for comment.
  • • Sharon Richer, left, northeast Ontario vice-president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), and Michael Hurley, president of OCHU, hold a press conference in Sudbury on Monday.
Govind Rao

Hospital cuts hitting north hardest - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246243|kldn|20150710|224572767

from heather cupe hospital Ontario campaign cuts rural

shared by Govind Rao on 10 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • The Kirkland Lake Northern News Fri Jul 10 2015
  • North Bay -Hospital cutbacks have been made worse in Northern Ontario by socio-economic conditions that have led to more prevalent chronic medical conditions and lower life expectancies, says the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. According to Michael Hurley, large aboriginal and senior populations in the North, coupled with issues such as geography and underemployment, should be the basis for increased services. But he says Northern hospitals have instead suffered devastating cuts. Hurley suggests North Bay has been even harder hit as a result of the province's $1-billion deal with the private sector to build, finance and maintain the North Bay Regional Health Centre.
  • As a P3 facility, he said the North Bay hospital shoulders higher operating costs than those that are owned outright by the province. "The hospital cuts in North Bay have probably been among the deepest in the province," said Hurley, who was in the city Wednesday, as part of campaign to highlight the impact of reductions in recent years on Northern Ontario patients. Hurley, who was joined by Sharon Richer, a hospital worker from Sudbury and an OCHU regional vice-president, hosted a news conference at the Royal Canadian Legion on First Avenue to provide an update to a 2014 report that concluded the health care system actively discriminates against frail, elderly patients, pushing them out of hospital instead providing the care they require. The report, entitled Pushed out of Hospital, Abandoned at Home, chronicled the experiences of hundreds of patients and their families from more than 30 Ontario communities who called a 1-800 patient hotline set up for a year by the OCHU and Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The update features additional anecdotal experiences of patients who have been let down by the health care system as a result of issues such as understaffing, overcrowding, early discharge and insufficient community support or home care. It also focuses specifically on cuts in the North. The report indicates that cutbacks in North Bay, which is the first stop of the campaign, include the closure of an eight-bed mental health rehabilitation unit and more than 56 positions -representing an estimate of more than 50,000 nursing care hours per year, affecting departments throughout the facility.
  • Although the local hospital has indicated resources are being transferred to the community, Hurley suggested such transfers do not commensurate with the cutbacks and often come at the expense of acute care services. "With the cuts that are happening across Northern Ontario, this is only going to get worse," said Richer, who share some the anecdotal experiences of patients included in the report. One account was that of an elderly man who had suffered a stroke and whose family believed he had been discharged too soon from hospital and did not receive adequate physiotherapy. Although the family struggled to pay for some private therapy, but the man never regained the ability to walk and died within two years of his stroke.
  • Hurley said hospitals have been forced to make cuts because they are now in the fourth year of a five-year freeze on their budgets. And he said estimates cited by the auditor general calculate that hospitals need a 5.8% increase annually to meet their basic costs. The report calls for the reopening of chronic and alternate level of care beds, a halt to the closure of acute care beds, adequate hospital funding, hospital reinvestment, the elimination of fees for home care, therapies and services and a move away from private for-profit home care, long-term care and pharmaceuticals. Hurley said the OCHU is also preparing to file a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission of discrimination in the health care system against the elderly when it comes to acute care services.
Govind Rao

Assaults on hospital staff increasing across Ontario as Staff, bed and service cuts fru... - 0 views

www.ochu.on.ca/...hospital_violence.php

from heather Ontario cupe hospital campaign violence health and safety staffing workload

shared by Govind Rao on 06 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • 06/July/2015
  • Toronto On – The rise in occurrences of violence against hospital staff documented in a University Health Network report are representative of a wave of aggression in hospitals, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) says. “ Aggression is commonplace, with staff spit on, scratched, punched, kicked, pushed and choked daily across Ontario. Despite all of the zero tolerance for aggression policies, the predominantly female hospital workforce bears the brunt of patient and family members’ hostility with appalling regularity. Staff are at increasing risk of psychological scarring and physical harm,“ says Sharon Richer, vice-president of OCHU responsible for health and safety.
Govind Rao

Northerners harder hit by hospital cuts - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246243|nbng|20150709|224491600

from heather cupe Ontario hospital cuts campaign rural

shared by Govind Rao on 09 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • The North Bay Nugget Thu Jul 9 2015
  • Hospital cutbacks have been made worse in Northern Ontario by socio-economic conditions that have led to more prevalent chronic medical conditions and lower life expectancies, says the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. According to Michael Hurley, large aboriginal and senior populations in the North, coupled with issues such as geography and underemployment, should be the basis for increased services. But, he says, Northern hospitals have instead suffered devastating cuts.
  • Hurley suggests North Bay has been even harder hit as a result of the province's $1-billion deal with the private sector to build, finance and maintain the North Bay Regional Health Centre. As a P3 facility, he said, the North Bay hospital shoulders higher operating costs than those owned outright by the province. The hospital cuts in North Bay have probably been among the deepest in the province," said Hurley, who was in the city Wednesday, as part of campaign to highlight the impact of reductions in recent years on Northern Ontario patients. Hurley, who was joined by Sharon Richer, a hospital worker from Sudbury and an OCHU regional vice-president, hosted a news conference at the Royal Canadian Legion on First Avenue to provide an update to a 2014 report that concluded the health-care system actively discriminates against frail, elderly patients, pushing them out of hospital instead providing the care they require.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The report, entitled Pushed out of Hospital, Abandoned at Home, chronicled the experiences of hundreds of patients and their families from more than 30 Ontario communities who called a 1-800 patient hotline set up for a year by the OCHU and Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. The update features additional anecdotal experiences of patients who have been let down by the health-care system as a result of issues such as understaffing, overcrowding, early discharge and insufficient community support or home care. It also focuses specifically on cuts in the North.
  • The report indicates that cutbacks in North Bay, which is the first stop of the campaign, include the closure of an eight-bed mental health rehabilitation unit and more than 56 positions - representing an estimate of more than 50,000 nursing care hours per year, affecting departments throughout the facility. Although the local hospital has indicated resources are being transferred to the community, Hurley suggested such transfers do not commensurate with the cutbacks and often come at the expense of acute care services. With the cuts that are happening across Northern Ontario, this is only going to get worse," said Richer, who shared some the anecdotal experiences of patients included in the report.
  • One account was that of an elderly man who had suffered a stroke and whose family believed he had been discharged too soon from hospital and did not receive adequate physiotherapy. Although the family struggled to pay for some private therapy, the man never regained the ability to walk and died within two years of his stroke. Hurley said hospitals have been forced to make cuts because they are now in the fourth year of a five-year freeze on their budgets. And, he said, estimates cited by the auditor general calculate that hospitals need a 5.8% increase annually to meet their basic costs. The report calls for the reopening of chronic and alternate level of care beds, a halt to the closure of acute care beds, adequate hospital funding, hospital reinvestment, the elimination of fees for home care, therapies and services and a move away from private for-profit home care, long-term care and pharmaceuticals. Hurley said the OCHU is preparing to file a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission of discrimination in the health-care system against the elderly when it comes to acute care services.
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