On Thursday, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced a plan aimed at recruiting more health professionals, freeing up hospital beds and reducing waiting lists for surgery. The plan comes as nursing shortages have led emergency departments across the province to close all summer for hours or days at a time. On long-term care, the government plans to introduce legislation today to allow patients waiting for a bed to be moved to a “temporary” home while they wait for a place in the home of their choice. It is also taking 300 beds that had been used for COVID-19 isolation and making them available for people on waiting lists, and says there is a possibility of doing this with 1,000 more beds within six months. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care confirmed to CBC Toronto that 200 people who have been hospitalized for six months waiting for LTC beds will be moved over the next three months, with a total of 1,300 to be moved by March 2023. WATCHES | Ontario’s health minister outlines 5-point plan to improve care:
Ontario’s health minister outlines a 5-point plan to improve care
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Ontario’s new plan to improve health care will add workers, improve innovation and expand the number of hospital beds available. But Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra said the legislation would not force anyone who does not want to leave hospital to go, nor would it make “any changes to the priority waiting list”. “The changes allow us to continue that conversation to explain to someone who is hospitalized why their needs can be met in a long-term care home,” Calandra said. The province’s plan also mentions “mandatory guidelines used by placement coordinators to ensure patients continue to stay close to a partner, spouse, loved ones or friends.”
The changes won’t solve the underlying problem, critics say
But NDP health critic France Gélinas said the province would be better off beefing up the home care system with more full-time personal support workers. “Now, hospitals will have the right to put a lot of pressure on you and your family to move you to the first available bed rather than the bed of your choice,” he said. “This is disrespectful, this is not how health care should be.” Gélinas suggested that the first available beds would likely be “in a private, for-profit home”, some of which were subject to scathing military exhibition in 2020 after suffering some of the worst cases of COVID-19 in the province. The province also announced plans to invest up to $57.6 million over three years to increase the number of nurses working in long-term care homes. While the new investments provide significant resources and funding to the sector, Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long Term Care Association, says it’s not enough to address the day-to-day staffing challenges faced by all homes, especially those in rural areas. and remote communities. “To support safe hospital admissions, we must ensure our homes have the health human and other workforce resources, especially as we move into the anticipated fall flu/COVID season,” Duncan wrote. According to the Long-Term Care Association of Ontario, the homes facilitate more than 37,000 transitions from hospitals to long-term care annually, ensuring appropriate flow through 2,200 acute care beds. (CBC) The association says it represents nearly 70 per cent of Ontario’s 630 long-term care homes, in a mix of private, not-for-profit, charitable and municipal structures. Duncan says the association faces an LTC waiting list of nearly 40,000 people, with seniors “needing quality care close to loved ones and their communities.” “All health sectors are facing serious workforce shortages and we are all trying to recruit from the same pool of available health professionals,” said Duncan.
Greater role for private services
The province’s plan outlines more of a role for services provided privately but covered by the public, with the government saying it will invest more to increase surgeries at pediatric hospitals and existing private clinics covered by OHIP. It is also looking at options to further increase surgical capacity by increasing the number of procedures performed in “independent health facilities”. Jones said Ontario needs to be “bold, innovative and creative” when looking for ways to improve the health system. “There are some who will fight for the status quo no matter what,” he said at a news conference announcing the plan. “They are ideologically opposed to change or improvement. We will not accept it. We cannot accept it. People want better health care.” Jones did not immediately respond to a question about whether she would consider allowing more private clinics in Ontario. “Health care will continue to be provided to Ontarians through the use of your OHIP card,” he said.
Nurses union opposes more privatisation
Catherine Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, criticized the plan to increase services at private clinics. “This is a blatant move to line investors’ pockets, nothing more,” she said in a statement. “The evidence is clear: privatizing health care provides worse health outcomes for our patients and has far higher overhead costs that will be paid by taxpayers. Ontario is sinking into privatization that will only benefit shareholders.” Hoy called it “strange” that the plan also outlines measures to support emergency department doctors, but not nurses. “The government has missed a huge opportunity here to strengthen nurse compensation as a key to retention and recruitment to limit additional closures,” he said. Ontario is expanding and introducing a number of programs aimed at strengthening hospital staffing in northern and rural communities, such as helping ER physicians support and mentor those in rural ERs and connecting resident physicians with those in northern and rural ERs. In a statement, liberal health critic Dr Adil Shamji called the plan “a series of empty promises” that showed the government had “learned no lessons from the pandemic”. “Rather than shirking her responsibility to strengthen the publicly funded health care system by asking the for-profit sector to solve the problems,” the MPP said the health minister “must provide real solutions that address the root causes of the extreme pressure facing the our health system.” Viable solutions include creating “a strong nursing workforce by repealing Bill 124,” Shamji said, along with increased funding for community and primary care businesses that would reduce ER visits. Until then, he said, “this crisis will continue to spiral out of control.”
Ontario to cover wages for certain nurses
Meanwhile, the province will temporarily cover exam, application and registration costs for internationally trained and retired nurses, saving them up to $1,500. Jones said she expects a plan today from both the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the College of Nurses of Ontario on how they plan to expedite the applications of those professionals still waiting to be accredited and licensed in Ontario. The nursing college plan includes the temporary enrollment of thousands of internationally trained nurses. The province’s plan also includes modifying a program that can deploy full-time nurses to multiple hospitals in a region and expanding a program for mid- to late-career or retired nurses to mentor younger nurses. “There are a lot of pieces that are part of this plan that haven’t been done,” Jones told reporters.
title: “Ontario To Fund More Private Clinics Send Patients To Temporary Ltcs To Ease Health Care Pressures Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-01” author: “Kyle Virgil”
On Thursday, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced a plan aimed at recruiting more health professionals, freeing up hospital beds and reducing waiting lists for surgery. The plan comes as nursing shortages have led emergency departments across the province to close all summer for hours or days at a time. On long-term care, the government plans to introduce legislation today to allow patients waiting for a bed to be moved to a “temporary” home while they wait for a place in the home of their choice. It is also taking 300 beds that had been used for COVID-19 isolation and making them available for people on waiting lists, and says there is a possibility of doing this with 1,000 more beds within six months. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care confirmed to CBC Toronto that 200 people who have been hospitalized for six months waiting for LTC beds will be moved over the next three months, with a total of 1,300 to be moved by March 2023. WATCHES | Ontario’s health minister outlines 5-point plan to improve care:
Ontario’s health minister outlines a 5-point plan to improve care
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Ontario’s new plan to improve health care will add workers, improve innovation and expand the number of hospital beds available. But Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra said the legislation would not force anyone who does not want to leave hospital to go, nor would it make “any changes to the priority waiting list”. “The changes allow us to continue that conversation to explain to someone who is hospitalized why their needs can be met in a long-term care home,” Calandra said. The province’s plan also mentions “mandatory guidelines used by placement coordinators to ensure patients continue to stay close to a partner, spouse, loved ones or friends.”
The changes won’t solve the underlying problem, critics say
But NDP health critic France Gélinas said the province would be better off beefing up the home care system with more full-time personal support workers. “Now, hospitals will have the right to put a lot of pressure on you and your family to move you to the first available bed rather than the bed of your choice,” he said. “This is disrespectful, this is not how health care should be.” Gélinas suggested that the first available beds would likely be “in a private, for-profit home”, some of which were subject to scathing military exhibition in 2020 after suffering some of the worst cases of COVID-19 in the province. The province also announced plans to invest up to $57.6 million over three years to increase the number of nurses working in long-term care homes. While the new investments provide significant resources and funding to the sector, Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long Term Care Association, says it’s not enough to address the day-to-day staffing challenges faced by all homes, especially those in rural areas. and remote communities. “To support safe hospital admissions, we must ensure our homes have the health human and other workforce resources, especially as we move into the anticipated fall flu/COVID season,” Duncan wrote. According to the Long-Term Care Association of Ontario, the homes facilitate more than 37,000 transitions from hospitals to long-term care annually, ensuring appropriate flow through 2,200 acute care beds. (CBC) The association says it represents nearly 70 per cent of Ontario’s 630 long-term care homes, in a mix of private, not-for-profit, charitable and municipal structures. Duncan says the association faces an LTC waiting list of nearly 40,000 people, with seniors “needing quality care close to loved ones and their communities.” “All health sectors are facing serious workforce shortages and we are all trying to recruit from the same pool of available health professionals,” said Duncan.
Greater role for private services
The province’s plan outlines more of a role for services provided privately but covered by the public, with the government saying it will invest more to increase surgeries at pediatric hospitals and existing private clinics covered by OHIP. It is also looking at options to further increase surgical capacity by increasing the number of procedures performed in “independent health facilities”. Jones said Ontario needs to be “bold, innovative and creative” when looking for ways to improve the health system. “There are some who will fight for the status quo no matter what,” he said at a news conference announcing the plan. “They are ideologically opposed to change or improvement. We will not accept it. We cannot accept it. People want better health care.” Jones did not immediately respond to a question about whether she would consider allowing more private clinics in Ontario. “Health care will continue to be provided to Ontarians through the use of your OHIP card,” he said.
Nurses union opposes more privatisation
Catherine Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, criticized the plan to increase services at private clinics. “This is a blatant move to line investors’ pockets, nothing more,” she said in a statement. “The evidence is clear: privatizing health care provides worse health outcomes for our patients and has far higher overhead costs that will be paid by taxpayers. Ontario is sinking into privatization that will only benefit shareholders.” Hoy called it “strange” that the plan also outlines measures to support emergency department doctors, but not nurses. “The government has missed a huge opportunity here to strengthen nurse compensation as a key to retention and recruitment to limit additional closures,” he said. Ontario is expanding and introducing a number of programs aimed at strengthening hospital staffing in northern and rural communities, such as helping ER physicians support and mentor those in rural ERs and connecting resident physicians with those in northern and rural ERs. In a statement, liberal health critic Dr Adil Shamji called the plan “a series of empty promises” that showed the government had “learned no lessons from the pandemic”. “Rather than shirking her responsibility to strengthen the publicly funded health care system by asking the for-profit sector to solve the problems,” the MPP said the health minister “must provide real solutions that address the root causes of the extreme pressure facing the our health system.” Viable solutions include creating “a strong nursing workforce by repealing Bill 124,” Shamji said, along with increased funding for community and primary care businesses that would reduce ER visits. Until then, he said, “this crisis will continue to spiral out of control.”
Ontario to cover wages for certain nurses
Meanwhile, the province will temporarily cover exam, application and registration costs for internationally trained and retired nurses, saving them up to $1,500. Jones said she expects a plan today from both the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the College of Nurses of Ontario on how they plan to expedite the applications of those professionals still waiting to be accredited and licensed in Ontario. The nursing college plan includes the temporary enrollment of thousands of internationally trained nurses. The province’s plan also includes modifying a program that can deploy full-time nurses to multiple hospitals in a region and expanding a program for mid- to late-career or retired nurses to mentor younger nurses. “There are a lot of pieces that are part of this plan that haven’t been done,” Jones told reporters.
title: “Ontario To Fund More Private Clinics Send Patients To Temporary Ltcs To Ease Health Care Pressures Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-08” author: “John Brooks”
On Thursday, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced a plan aimed at recruiting more health professionals, freeing up hospital beds and reducing waiting lists for surgery. The plan comes as nursing shortages have led emergency departments across the province to close all summer for hours or days at a time. On long-term care, the government plans to introduce legislation today to allow patients waiting for a bed to be moved to a “temporary” home while they wait for a place in the home of their choice. It is also taking 300 beds that had been used for COVID-19 isolation and making them available for people on waiting lists, and says there is a possibility of doing this with 1,000 more beds within six months. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care confirmed to CBC Toronto that 200 people who have been hospitalized for six months waiting for LTC beds will be moved over the next three months, with a total of 1,300 to be moved by March 2023. WATCHES | Ontario’s health minister outlines 5-point plan to improve care:
Ontario’s health minister outlines a 5-point plan to improve care
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Ontario’s new plan to improve health care will add workers, improve innovation and expand the number of hospital beds available. But Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra said the legislation would not force anyone who does not want to leave hospital to go, nor would it make “any changes to the priority waiting list”. “The changes allow us to continue that conversation to explain to someone who is hospitalized why their needs can be met in a long-term care home,” Calandra said. The province’s plan also mentions “mandatory guidelines used by placement coordinators to ensure patients continue to stay close to a partner, spouse, loved ones or friends.”
The changes won’t solve the underlying problem, critics say
But NDP health critic France Gélinas said the province would be better off beefing up the home care system with more full-time personal support workers. “Now, hospitals will have the right to put a lot of pressure on you and your family to move you to the first available bed rather than the bed of your choice,” he said. “This is disrespectful, this is not how health care should be.” Gélinas suggested that the first available beds would likely be “in a private, for-profit home”, some of which were subject to scathing military exhibition in 2020 after suffering some of the worst cases of COVID-19 in the province. The province also announced plans to invest up to $57.6 million over three years to increase the number of nurses working in long-term care homes. While the new investments provide significant resources and funding to the sector, Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long Term Care Association, says it’s not enough to address the day-to-day staffing challenges faced by all homes, especially those in rural areas. and remote communities. “To support safe hospital admissions, we must ensure our homes have the health human and other workforce resources, especially as we move into the anticipated fall flu/COVID season,” Duncan wrote. According to the Long-Term Care Association of Ontario, the homes facilitate more than 37,000 transitions from hospitals to long-term care annually, ensuring appropriate flow through 2,200 acute care beds. (CBC) The association says it represents nearly 70 per cent of Ontario’s 630 long-term care homes, in a mix of private, not-for-profit, charitable and municipal structures. Duncan says the association faces an LTC waiting list of nearly 40,000 people, with seniors “needing quality care close to loved ones and their communities.” “All health sectors are facing serious workforce shortages and we are all trying to recruit from the same pool of available health professionals,” said Duncan.
Greater role for private services
The province’s plan outlines more of a role for services provided privately but covered by the public, with the government saying it will invest more to increase surgeries at pediatric hospitals and existing private clinics covered by OHIP. It is also looking at options to further increase surgical capacity by increasing the number of procedures performed in “independent health facilities”. Jones said Ontario needs to be “bold, innovative and creative” when looking for ways to improve the health system. “There are some who will fight for the status quo no matter what,” he said at a news conference announcing the plan. “They are ideologically opposed to change or improvement. We will not accept it. We cannot accept it. People want better health care.” Jones did not immediately respond to a question about whether she would consider allowing more private clinics in Ontario. “Health care will continue to be provided to Ontarians through the use of your OHIP card,” he said.
Nurses union opposes more privatisation
Catherine Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, criticized the plan to increase services at private clinics. “This is a blatant move to line investors’ pockets, nothing more,” she said in a statement. “The evidence is clear: privatizing health care provides worse health outcomes for our patients and has far higher overhead costs that will be paid by taxpayers. Ontario is sinking into privatization that will only benefit shareholders.” Hoy called it “strange” that the plan also outlines measures to support emergency department doctors, but not nurses. “The government has missed a huge opportunity here to strengthen nurse compensation as a key to retention and recruitment to limit additional closures,” he said. Ontario is expanding and introducing a number of programs aimed at strengthening hospital staffing in northern and rural communities, such as helping ER physicians support and mentor those in rural ERs and connecting resident physicians with those in northern and rural ERs. In a statement, liberal health critic Dr Adil Shamji called the plan “a series of empty promises” that showed the government had “learned no lessons from the pandemic”. “Rather than shirking her responsibility to strengthen the publicly funded health care system by asking the for-profit sector to solve the problems,” the MPP said the health minister “must provide real solutions that address the root causes of the extreme pressure facing the our health system.” Viable solutions include creating “a strong nursing workforce by repealing Bill 124,” Shamji said, along with increased funding for community and primary care businesses that would reduce ER visits. Until then, he said, “this crisis will continue to spiral out of control.”
Ontario to cover wages for certain nurses
Meanwhile, the province will temporarily cover exam, application and registration costs for internationally trained and retired nurses, saving them up to $1,500. Jones said she expects a plan today from both the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the College of Nurses of Ontario on how they plan to expedite the applications of those professionals still waiting to be accredited and licensed in Ontario. The nursing college plan includes the temporary enrollment of thousands of internationally trained nurses. The province’s plan also includes modifying a program that can deploy full-time nurses to multiple hospitals in a region and expanding a program for mid- to late-career or retired nurses to mentor younger nurses. “There are a lot of pieces that are part of this plan that haven’t been done,” Jones told reporters.
title: “Ontario To Fund More Private Clinics Send Patients To Temporary Ltcs To Ease Health Care Pressures Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-27” author: “Leo Topete”
On Thursday, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced a plan aimed at recruiting more health professionals, freeing up hospital beds and reducing waiting lists for surgery. The plan comes as nursing shortages have led emergency departments across the province to close all summer for hours or days at a time. On long-term care, the government plans to introduce legislation today to allow patients waiting for a bed to be moved to a “temporary” home while they wait for a place in the home of their choice. It is also taking 300 beds that had been used for COVID-19 isolation and making them available for people on waiting lists, and says there is a possibility of doing this with 1,000 more beds within six months. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care confirmed to CBC Toronto that 200 people who have been hospitalized for six months waiting for LTC beds will be moved over the next three months, with a total of 1,300 to be moved by March 2023. WATCHES | Ontario’s health minister outlines 5-point plan to improve care:
Ontario’s health minister outlines a 5-point plan to improve care
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Ontario’s new plan to improve health care will add workers, improve innovation and expand the number of hospital beds available. But Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra said the legislation would not force anyone who does not want to leave hospital to go, nor would it make “any changes to the priority waiting list”. “The changes allow us to continue that conversation to explain to someone who is hospitalized why their needs can be met in a long-term care home,” Calandra said. The province’s plan also mentions “mandatory guidelines used by placement coordinators to ensure patients continue to stay close to a partner, spouse, loved ones or friends.”
The changes won’t solve the underlying problem, critics say
But NDP health critic France Gélinas said the province would be better off beefing up the home care system with more full-time personal support workers. “Now, hospitals will have the right to put a lot of pressure on you and your family to move you to the first available bed rather than the bed of your choice,” he said. “This is disrespectful, this is not how health care should be.” Gélinas suggested that the first available beds would likely be “in a private, for-profit home”, some of which were subject to scathing military exhibition in 2020 after suffering some of the worst cases of COVID-19 in the province. The province also announced plans to invest up to $57.6 million over three years to increase the number of nurses working in long-term care homes. While the new investments provide significant resources and funding to the sector, Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long Term Care Association, says it’s not enough to address the day-to-day staffing challenges faced by all homes, especially those in rural areas. and remote communities. “To support safe hospital admissions, we must ensure our homes have the health human and other workforce resources, especially as we move into the anticipated fall flu/COVID season,” Duncan wrote. According to the Long-Term Care Association of Ontario, the homes facilitate more than 37,000 transitions from hospitals to long-term care annually, ensuring appropriate flow through 2,200 acute care beds. (CBC) The association says it represents nearly 70 per cent of Ontario’s 630 long-term care homes, in a mix of private, not-for-profit, charitable and municipal structures. Duncan says the association faces an LTC waiting list of nearly 40,000 people, with seniors “needing quality care close to loved ones and their communities.” “All health sectors are facing serious workforce shortages and we are all trying to recruit from the same pool of available health professionals,” said Duncan.
Greater role for private services
The province’s plan outlines more of a role for services provided privately but covered by the public, with the government saying it will invest more to increase surgeries at pediatric hospitals and existing private clinics covered by OHIP. It is also looking at options to further increase surgical capacity by increasing the number of procedures performed in “independent health facilities”. Jones said Ontario needs to be “bold, innovative and creative” when looking for ways to improve the health system. “There are some who will fight for the status quo no matter what,” he said at a news conference announcing the plan. “They are ideologically opposed to change or improvement. We will not accept it. We cannot accept it. People want better health care.” Jones did not immediately respond to a question about whether she would consider allowing more private clinics in Ontario. “Health care will continue to be provided to Ontarians through the use of your OHIP card,” he said.
Nurses union opposes more privatisation
Catherine Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, criticized the plan to increase services at private clinics. “This is a blatant move to line investors’ pockets, nothing more,” she said in a statement. “The evidence is clear: privatizing health care provides worse health outcomes for our patients and has far higher overhead costs that will be paid by taxpayers. Ontario is sinking into privatization that will only benefit shareholders.” Hoy called it “strange” that the plan also outlines measures to support emergency department doctors, but not nurses. “The government has missed a huge opportunity here to strengthen nurse compensation as a key to retention and recruitment to limit additional closures,” he said. Ontario is expanding and introducing a number of programs aimed at strengthening hospital staffing in northern and rural communities, such as helping ER physicians support and mentor those in rural ERs and connecting resident physicians with those in northern and rural ERs. In a statement, liberal health critic Dr Adil Shamji called the plan “a series of empty promises” that showed the government had “learned no lessons from the pandemic”. “Rather than shirking her responsibility to strengthen the publicly funded health care system by asking the for-profit sector to solve the problems,” the MPP said the health minister “must provide real solutions that address the root causes of the extreme pressure facing the our health system.” Viable solutions include creating “a strong nursing workforce by repealing Bill 124,” Shamji said, along with increased funding for community and primary care businesses that would reduce ER visits. Until then, he said, “this crisis will continue to spiral out of control.”
Ontario to cover wages for certain nurses
Meanwhile, the province will temporarily cover exam, application and registration costs for internationally trained and retired nurses, saving them up to $1,500. Jones said she expects a plan today from both the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the College of Nurses of Ontario on how they plan to expedite the applications of those professionals still waiting to be accredited and licensed in Ontario. The nursing college plan includes the temporary enrollment of thousands of internationally trained nurses. The province’s plan also includes modifying a program that can deploy full-time nurses to multiple hospitals in a region and expanding a program for mid- to late-career or retired nurses to mentor younger nurses. “There are a lot of pieces that are part of this plan that haven’t been done,” Jones told reporters.
title: “Ontario To Fund More Private Clinics Send Patients To Temporary Ltcs To Ease Health Care Pressures Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “Dorothy Blocker”
On Thursday, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced a plan aimed at recruiting more health professionals, freeing up hospital beds and reducing waiting lists for surgery. The plan comes as nursing shortages have led emergency departments across the province to close all summer for hours or days at a time. On long-term care, the government plans to introduce legislation today to allow patients waiting for a bed to be moved to a “temporary” home while they wait for a place in the home of their choice. It is also taking 300 beds that had been used for COVID-19 isolation and making them available for people on waiting lists, and says there is a possibility of doing this with 1,000 more beds within six months. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care confirmed to CBC Toronto that 200 people who have been hospitalized for six months waiting for LTC beds will be moved over the next three months, with a total of 1,300 to be moved by March 2023. WATCHES | Ontario’s health minister outlines 5-point plan to improve care:
Ontario’s health minister outlines a 5-point plan to improve care
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Ontario’s new plan to improve health care will add workers, improve innovation and expand the number of hospital beds available. But Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra said the legislation would not force anyone who does not want to leave hospital to go, nor would it make “any changes to the priority waiting list”. “The changes allow us to continue that conversation to explain to someone who is hospitalized why their needs can be met in a long-term care home,” Calandra said. The province’s plan also mentions “mandatory guidelines used by placement coordinators to ensure patients continue to stay close to a partner, spouse, loved ones or friends.”
The changes won’t solve the underlying problem, critics say
But NDP health critic France Gélinas said the province would be better off beefing up the home care system with more full-time personal support workers. “Now, hospitals will have the right to put a lot of pressure on you and your family to move you to the first available bed rather than the bed of your choice,” he said. “This is disrespectful, this is not how health care should be.” Gélinas suggested that the first available beds would likely be “in a private, for-profit home”, some of which were subject to scathing military exhibition in 2020 after suffering some of the worst cases of COVID-19 in the province. The province also announced plans to invest up to $57.6 million over three years to increase the number of nurses working in long-term care homes. While the new investments provide significant resources and funding to the sector, Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long Term Care Association, says it’s not enough to address the day-to-day staffing challenges faced by all homes, especially those in rural areas. and remote communities. “To support safe hospital admissions, we must ensure our homes have the health human and other workforce resources, especially as we move into the anticipated fall flu/COVID season,” Duncan wrote. According to the Long-Term Care Association of Ontario, the homes facilitate more than 37,000 transitions from hospitals to long-term care annually, ensuring appropriate flow through 2,200 acute care beds. (CBC) The association says it represents nearly 70 per cent of Ontario’s 630 long-term care homes, in a mix of private, not-for-profit, charitable and municipal structures. Duncan says the association faces an LTC waiting list of nearly 40,000 people, with seniors “needing quality care close to loved ones and their communities.” “All health sectors are facing serious workforce shortages and we are all trying to recruit from the same pool of available health professionals,” said Duncan.
Greater role for private services
The province’s plan outlines more of a role for services provided privately but covered by the public, with the government saying it will invest more to increase surgeries at pediatric hospitals and existing private clinics covered by OHIP. It is also looking at options to further increase surgical capacity by increasing the number of procedures performed in “independent health facilities”. Jones said Ontario needs to be “bold, innovative and creative” when looking for ways to improve the health system. “There are some who will fight for the status quo no matter what,” he said at a news conference announcing the plan. “They are ideologically opposed to change or improvement. We will not accept it. We cannot accept it. People want better health care.” Jones did not immediately respond to a question about whether she would consider allowing more private clinics in Ontario. “Health care will continue to be provided to Ontarians through the use of your OHIP card,” he said.
Nurses union opposes more privatisation
Catherine Hoy, president of the Ontario Nurses Association, criticized the plan to increase services at private clinics. “This is a blatant move to line investors’ pockets, nothing more,” she said in a statement. “The evidence is clear: privatizing health care provides worse health outcomes for our patients and has far higher overhead costs that will be paid by taxpayers. Ontario is sinking into privatization that will only benefit shareholders.” Hoy called it “strange” that the plan also outlines measures to support emergency department doctors, but not nurses. “The government has missed a huge opportunity here to strengthen nurse compensation as a key to retention and recruitment to limit additional closures,” he said. Ontario is expanding and introducing a number of programs aimed at strengthening hospital staffing in northern and rural communities, such as helping ER physicians support and mentor those in rural ERs and connecting resident physicians with those in northern and rural ERs. In a statement, liberal health critic Dr Adil Shamji called the plan “a series of empty promises” that showed the government had “learned no lessons from the pandemic”. “Rather than shirking her responsibility to strengthen the publicly funded health care system by asking the for-profit sector to solve the problems,” the MPP said the health minister “must provide real solutions that address the root causes of the extreme pressure facing the our health system.” Viable solutions include creating “a strong nursing workforce by repealing Bill 124,” Shamji said, along with increased funding for community and primary care businesses that would reduce ER visits. Until then, he said, “this crisis will continue to spiral out of control.”
Ontario to cover wages for certain nurses
Meanwhile, the province will temporarily cover exam, application and registration costs for internationally trained and retired nurses, saving them up to $1,500. Jones said she expects a plan today from both the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the College of Nurses of Ontario on how they plan to expedite the applications of those professionals still waiting to be accredited and licensed in Ontario. The nursing college plan includes the temporary enrollment of thousands of internationally trained nurses. The province’s plan also includes modifying a program that can deploy full-time nurses to multiple hospitals in a region and expanding a program for mid- to late-career or retired nurses to mentor younger nurses. “There are a lot of pieces that are part of this plan that haven’t been done,” Jones told reporters.
