CANADA: against Privatization, Health Coalition Demands Funding for Hospitals

Written on February 7th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

… Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs – Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 1217, Feb 5, 2016.

… A sampling of recent cuts:

  • North Bay: 30 – 40 beds closing and 140 staff positions to be cut.
  • Brockville: 17 Registered Nurses cut affecting departments across the hospital.  
  • London: up to 500 surgeries including hip, knee, gall bladder and others cancelled until next fiscal year due to inadequate funding of surgery budgets.
  • Woodstock: hip, knee and other surgeries cancelled til next fiscal year.
  • Trenton: virtually all surgeries cut and closed down along with half the remaining acute care beds.
  • Minden: the hospital CEO is speculating openly about closing the Minden hospital.
  • Niagara: five entire hospitals to be closed and replaced with one.
  • Windsor: 160 nurses and staff positions to be cut affecting departments across the hospital.
  • Kitchener-Waterloo: 68 staff positions to be cut affecting departments across the hospital.
  • Midland: at risk: birthing, cafeteria, OR closure 2 days per week, ICU beds to be cut, along with beds and other services.

The Ontario Health Coalition is deeply concerned about the cuts to our province’s public hospitals and has focused our pre-budget submission on one key recommendation:
? Recommendation: The hospital cuts must be stopped immediately. Hospital funding must be restored to the average of the other provinces in Canada and funding must go to restoring and improving service levels to meet population need … //

… Sampling of hospital bed occupancy rates:

  • … (final quarter 2013: 2 are 100%, 15 are up to 123%) … //

… Consequences of Emergency Department Overcrowding

  • Patient suffering, dissatisfaction and inconvenience
  • Poor patient outcomes
  • Increased morbidity and mortality
  • Poor quality of care
  • Contribution to infectious disease outbreaks
  • Violence aimed at hospital staff and physicians
  • Decreased physician and nursing productivity
  • Deteriorating levels of service
  • Increased risk of medical error
  • Negative work environments
  • Negative effects on teaching and research

Source: Physician Hospital Care Committee Report to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Ontario Medical Association and Ontario Hospital Association Tripartite Committee, Improving Access to Emergency Care: Addressing System Issues, August 2006 … //

… Who We Are:

  • The Ontario Health Coalition is comprised of a Board of Directors, committees of the Board as approved in the Coalition’s annual Action Plan, Local Coalitions, member organizations and individual members. Currently the Ontario Health Coalition represents more than 400 member organizations and a network of Local Health Coalitions and individual members. Our members include: seniors’ groups; patients’ organizations; unions; nurses and health professionals’ organizations; physicians and physician organizations that support the public health system; non-profit community agencies; ethnic and cultural organizations; residents’ and family councils; retirees; poverty and equality-seeking groups; women’s organizations, and others.

(full long text, 4 charts).

Links:

Est-il encore permis d’informer sur les activités du groupe Bolloré? dans farmlandgrab.org, le 5 févr 2016;

All the truth, on il manifesto, by All the truth, Feb 5, 2016; http://ilmanifesto.info/all-the-truth/

Malen land owners vs Socfin … State Counsel objects judgement, on farmlandgrab.org, by Jenkins Bawoh, Feb 5, 2016;

Comment la flat tax peut conjuguer justice et efficacité fiscale, dans l’Opinion.fr, par Jean-Philippe Delsol, le 3 fevr 2016;

CANADA, Québec/Lévis: 3e édition des Journées internationales du 25 au 27 avril 2016, publié dans Le Peulpe Lévis;

La prime d’activité, un premier pas pour contourner les défauts du RSA activité, dans l’Opinion, par Arnaud Lavorel, le 3 févr 2016;

Why the Bernie Sanders insurgency matters, on ricochet, by Michal Rozworski and Derrick O’Keefe, Feb 2, 2016; https://ricochet.media/en/918/why-the-bernie-sanders-insurgency-matters

The refugee who took on the British government, on farmlandgrab.org, by Ben Rawlence, Jan 12, 2016: One day in late 2010, a farmer – I will call him Opik – woke up in his village in the remote Ethiopian province of Gambella. In this lush lowland area of savanna bordering South Sudan, the semi-nomadic Anuak people have lived for centuries, cultivating sorghum and maize, swimming in the river and gathering nuts, berries and fruits from the trees and wild honey from the forest. “It was paradise,” Opik recalled …;

… and this

Fasnacht Basel 2016:

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