(April 27, 2016)<\/p>\n
By: Lynne Brown, Sault Online<\/p>\n
Members of the local chapter of the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), Sault Ste. Marie & Area Health Coalition, \u00a0took their message outdoors, joining in a provincial campaign to elevate the conversation around health care cuts to hospitals. Not every city where local chapters of OHC were rallying the troops would have experienced quite the weather front that moved in to the Sault, on Monday, April 25th, 2016. About two dozen brave souls took to the corner of Great Northern and Lukenda Drive, at the entrance to Sault Area Hospital.\u00a0 Signs were raised (and blown away at times) in a bid to motivate people into thinking about ways they may have experienced cuts to health care funding, specifically to hospitals in Ontario.<\/p>\n
The upcoming, May 5th Town Hall meeting, will be an opportunity for people to add their voice to the conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking for increased funding to our hospitals.\u201d said Margo Dale, Sault & Area Health Coalition Chair. \u00a0Referring to funding to hospitals at the provincial level, Margo Dale said, \u201cWe\u2019re last in (hospital) \u00a0beds, we\u2019re last in nursing care, we\u2019re last in a number of different things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOntario has dropped to last place in Canada in hospital funding. We are now in the ninth year of real-dollar cuts to global hospital budgets. Patients are paying the price; They are being left on stretchers in hallways, surgeries are being cancelled and vital health services are being privatized or subject to user fees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Total health funding by the Ontario government is only going up by about $352 million this year \u2014 or about 0.7%. This falls well short of aging, inflation, utilization, and population growth cost pressures and deepens the trend in recent years to reduce health care and hospital funding in real terms.\u2019 (The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)<\/p>\n
In\u00a0a September, 2015 report, the Auditor General of Ontario stated that\u00a0Ontario hospital funding is less than the renewal needs for existing hospitals. \u00a0\u201cThe assessments of hospital facilities identified $2.7 billion dollars of renewal needs, requiring annual funding of $392 million to bring assets to what is considered good condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, since 2014\/15, the actual annual provincial funding amount has been $125 million. The Auditor General also\u00a0noted: \u201cExisting funding does not address significant pressures faced by ministries for new projects. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has received submissions for 37 major hospital projects totalling $11.9 billion dating back to 2005\/06. These submissions were endorsed by Local Health Integration Networks as needed projects requiring funding. However, the Ministry did not put forward these projects for approval to Treasury Board as these initiatives could not be managed from within their existing budget allocation. Hospitals raided operating funds for capital projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Auditor also reports that in \u201cthe last five years, hospitals spent on average $45 million a year of operating funds on capital and other funding needs.\u201d\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.auditor.on.ca<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u201cOur stats show that there are service needs in all areas of hospitals.\u201d said Dale. \u00a0\u201cThe RN\u2019s (registered nurses) have indicated that they are working under staff shortages so critical that patients\u2019 safety is at risk. The RN\u2019s have called for an outside group to come in and audit\u00a0 what is going on. Personal Support Workers are being moved to laundry and kitchen. \u00a0Dieticians and Pharmacy don\u2019t have full time hours.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think this is an important issue. I spend the winters in Florida now, and I see the system they have down there. Anything we can do to protect what we have, is why I am here today.\u201d shared (Rev.) Larry Burton, retired United Church of Canada Minister. \u00a0\u201cIn a sense, our health care system defines us as Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have passionate front-line workers at the SAH, Matthew\u2019s Hospital (St. Joseph\u2019s Island), and all across this province, but they\u2019re not able to do what they need \u00a0to do. Funding cuts and lack of funded beds have created a crisis situation with our hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBallot boxes will be available throughout the month of May, at various polling stations across the province, leading up to the May 28th Referendum. \u00a0Local volunteers will be collecting and tallying votes.\u00a0 This Referendum is a province-wide vote, led by volunteers in communities across Ontario.\u201d said Dale.<\/p>\n The referendum question is simple, and reads: \u2018Ontario\u2019s government must stop the cuts to our community hospitals and restore services, funding and staff to meet our communities\u2019 needs for care.\u2019 \u00a0Answer: Yes or No.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ballot boxes will be set up at community centres, local businesses, and organizations around the area\u201d said Dale.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is beyond time that the cuts to our community hospitals stop. We are calling for Ontarians to join a province-wide vote to make Ontario\u2019s government listen to the concerns of our communities & restore our local hospital services.\u201d<\/p>\n In a recently released report (April 13, 2016) titled \u2018 Beyond Limits: Ontario\u2019s Deepening Hospital Cuts Crisis\u2019, Executive Director, Ontario Health Coalition, \u00a0Natalie Mehra said: \u201cThat people are sleeping on stretchers in hallways in every major city in Ontario, sometimes for days at a time, is a travesty. Small and rural hospitals are being eviscerated despite all evidence regarding community need. The fact that staffing and funding are being cut to unsafe levels without any reasonable benchmarks shows just how far beyond any limits Ontario\u2019s hospital cuts have gone. This issue should be considered the serious crisis that it truly is, by our policy makers.\u201d<\/p>\n The report includes an updated list, tracking hospital service and staffing cuts in every region of the province for the last four years. Among the key findings:<\/p>\n \u00b7 Ontario\u2019s government has cut hospitals\u2019 global budgets in real-dollar terms for 8 years in a row. If the government does not change course, 2016 -17 will be the ninth consecutive year of hospital cuts \u2013 the longest period of hospital cuts in the history of Ontario\u2019s public hospitals.<\/p>\n \u00b7 Ontario now has the least amount of nursing care per average patient (including RN and RPN care).<\/p>\n \u00b7 Ontario has the fewest hospital beds left of all provinces in Canada, and lags far below the other provinces.<\/p>\n \u00b7 Ontario has the highest hospital readmission rates in Canada, and they are rising.<\/p>\n \u00b7 By every reasonable measure, Ontario\u2019s hospital funding levels are at or near the bottom of the country and far from the average of the other provinces.<\/p>\n \u00b7 Cuts are resulting in a crisis of overcrowding; cancelled surgeries because there are no beds; too-early discharges; high re-admission rates; infections; violence; ambulance delays; understaffing; and compromised safety for patients and staff alike.<\/p>\n Margo Dale said \u201cThe goal of the Referendum is to get as many votes as possible in order to get the Wynne government to listen to regular Ontarians who need to see increased Provincial Government funding. We want our hospitals to have enough workers who deal directly with patients and sufficient services to allow hospitals to provide quality health care to meet community needs. We need to be at least average in Canada. What we are looking for is increased, direct funding for hands- on care, to raise the standard of health care to quality care where people are treated with dignity and respect. When 22 people are lined up along an emergency corridor because there aren\u2019t enough funded beds for them\u2026where\u2019s the dignity in that?\u201d<\/p>\n The Town Hall meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 5, 2016, 7:00 pm. at the Royal Canadian Legion, (Branch 25), 96 Great Northern Road. The OHC Executive Director , Natalie Mehra, will be one of the guest speakers at the meeting.<\/p>\n