Nurses are the largest health care profession in the province. Currently, one in ten nurses in Ontario is an Internationally Educated Nurse (IEN).

Almost 300 foreign-trained nurses arrive in Canada each year with most settling in Ontario

For more information about the IEN Project, visit www.oha.com/ien or contact:Dr. Andrea Baumann at baumanna@mcmaster.ca  Dr. Jennifer Blythe at blytheje@mcmaster.ca  Maggie Fung at mfung@oha.com

A national doctors’ organisation says that most of the authors of a federally sponsored report on recommended health insurance coverage have financial ties to insurers and drug companies and that the insurance scheme will leave many US citizens without access to healthcare.

The Institute of Medicine, which was contracted by the federal government to write the report, brought in security guards at the institute’s annual meeting to prevent doctors from distributing leaflets outlining the financial conflicts of interest of the report’s authors. The doctors, former institute fellows and members of Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan

more than 2400 doctors, nurses, and health advocates, stating that the recommendations for “essential benefits” to be provided under the Affordable Care Act will provide “skimpy” care that would endanger the health of many citizens

The government needs to monitor the care market better at local and regional levels to minimise the risk of another provider like Southern Cross collapsing

A report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published on Tuesday 6 December raises concerns about the trend towards fewer, larger providers of residential and home care.

The danger of having too few large providers in a particular area was highlighted when Southern Cross collapsed earlier this year (BMJ 2011;342:d3535, doi:10.1136/bmj.d3535), putting the welfare of 31 000 residents in jeopardy

The respected economist Andrew Dilnot, chairman of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support—the body that recently reviewed the funding system for care and support in England—emphasised that the current system was in dire need of an overhaul

The Dilnot inquiry, which reported in July (BMJ 2011;343:d4261, doi:10.1136/bmj.d4261), recommended a cap on individuals’ personal contributions to the costs of social care of around £35 000 (€41 000; $55 000) over their lifetime. When that cap was reached, people would be eligible for full state support.

At the moment, the means tested threshold at which point people are required to fund the full costs of their care is £23 250, but the commission recommends increasing this to £100 000.

This tenth meeting deals with the communiqué on Aboriginal health.

The overall title of this meeting is prevention, promotion and public health.

Dr. Paul Armstrong, Founding and Former President, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

As an example of these accomplishments, I would cite the work of CIHR funded researcher Dr. Cyril Frank and his team at the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute, who developed a new and more cost-effective model of care for hip and knee replacement. This model has markedly improved outcomes while decreasing hospital stays and wait times for surgery. For governments, the cost savings from a nationwide implementation of this model of care is estimated at approximately $228 million per year.

CIHR, in partnership with the provinces, universities, disease charities and the private sector, will be investing in a 10-year initiative to transform community-based primary health care.

Although many Canadians believe that the aging population is driving health care costs in Canada, the CIHI report suggests that this is not the case, which is consistent with other research.

The salaries of doctors, nurses and other skilled health care professionals have risen more quickly than the average Canadian salaries in the last decade.  As well, the report notes that compensation for doctors grew faster than the wages of other health and social service workers in the past decade.

Over one in four health care dollars in Canada is spent on hospitals. With about 60% of hospital budgets consumed by staff wages, this is a major component of health care spending .

The government has added to its already acrimonious dispute with public sector employees by announcing a cap of 1% on pay rises for the next two years.

On the back of the current pay freeze

Announcing the new measures chancellor George Osborne also suggested that there could be an end to national bargaining in future.

Smooth integrated care is not being achieved across England concludes the report Joining up health and social care published by the Audit Commission on 1 December.

The report, the second in a series of commission briefings looking at adult social care, found substantial differences in the types of care received by people aged 65 or older across the country.

Physicians in Canada have seen their pay double over the past decade, but their ranks have also reached an all-time high, meaning more people now have a doctor, two new studies show.

Overall pay for physicians reached close to $19-billion in 2010, up 7.4 per cent from 2009

In 2010, there were 203 active physicians for every 100,000 Canadians, up from 190 in 2006 and 151 in 1980.

One generous donation was enough to install a kitchen and renovate the dining room. Now Capi-talCare is halfway through a $4-mil-lion fundraising campaign to change 18 more dining rooms, improving meals for 800 seniors.

"We were bringing in 90 per cent pre-made products," he said. "Now, I'll probably bring in maybe 30 per cent, mostly just the desserts."

Older nursing homes were originally designed similar to a hospital so nurses could focus on the medical needs of residents. But the new focus of continuing care is on supporting independence and dignity for the elderly.

The number of physicians in Canada is at an all-time high and rising, according to new data, suggesting the much-discussed doctor shortage may be improving.

Between 1980 and 2010, the number of physicians in Canada increased by 87.1 per cent

In 2010, there were 203 physicians per 100,000 Canadians versus 151 in 1980.

less than 15 per cent of our public funds spent on long-term care are dedicated to home care services

Other OECD countries invest significantly more resources: the Netherlands, France and Denmark, for example, invest, respectively, 32 per cent, 43 per cent and 73 per cent of their public long-term care funding on home care.

According to OECD data, Canada dedicates 1.2 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to long-term care.

The Obama administration proposed regulations on Thursday to give the nation’s nearly two million home care workers minimum wage and overtime protections.

The Obama administration proposed regulations on Thursday to give the nation’s nearly two million home care workers minimum wage and overtime protections. Those workers have long been exempted from coverage.

calls for home care aides to be protected under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation’s main wage and hour law.

Patients First (www.patientsfirst.org.uk/), an organisation made up of whistleblowers within the NHS, which she says includes doctors, nurses, and managers.

The group aims to lobby the government to create policies and laws that ensure the NHS becomes “more open and accountable.”

Ours is a public health-care system, but when it comes to vital information, secrecy is the order of the day.

Determine how decisions, on the utilization and allocation of Registered Nurses (RNs) and Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), are currently being made in Ontario home care provider agencies; investigate the feasibility of, and provide input into, the development of an RN/RPN Utilization Toolkit for the home care sector.

Compile a detailed demographic profile of nurses working in the home care sector and identify areas of concern/strength related to current trends in the home care nursing workforce.

Evaluate the unique challenges of attracting and retaining early, mid and late career nurses to the home care sector and describe factors or policy initiatives that may be instrumental in attracting new graduates to community nursing as an employment choice.

An alert issued by the Joint Commission this week urges healthcare organizations to step up their efforts to reduce the risks for medical errors related to fatigue among workers enduring extended shifts.

The alert responds to ongoing concerns about the risks for fatigue in relation to patient care. These concerns continue, despite a variety of efforts to address the issue, including rules imposed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

In its alert, the Joint Commission calls on healthcare organizations to take sweeping actions, including assessing policies for shift work, developing strategies to prevent fatigue, bolstering teamwork and collaboration in providing support for those on longer shifts, and ensuring a safe, smooth transition when patients are handed off at the end of a shift.

In August, the Minister of Social Development, Sue Stultz, announced an additional $4.4 million to increase funding to home support agencies to $16 per hour with a requirement for agencies like the Red Cross to pay its workers a minimum wage of $11, as of October 1.  

“At the present time, this increase has not been paid to the workers. Most of the Home Support workers are women, who live below the poverty line. They don’t have full employment and the highest paid worker at Red Cross receives $9.65 an hour after ten years of services.  Even with an increase to $11 an hour, we would be the lowest paid in the Maritimes province. When you compare this with people doing the same work in other provinces, the difference in wages is huge.  For example, in 2008, in Nova Scotia, they received $15.62 an hour and in PEI, $19.19.”

In New Brunswick, there are 57 home support agencies which employ 3,300 workers. This afternoon, a petition signed by 2,469 New Brunswickers will be presented at the Legislative Assembly by the MLA for Nepisiguit, Ryan Riordon. The petition is asking the Provincial Government to adequately subsidize the services of home support workers so that the workers receive wages and benefits worthy of the value of their work. The petition is also asking that this service becomes an accessible public service and an equal quality for the entire province.