(May 8, 2016)<\/p>\n
Author: Frank Matys, Orillia Today<\/p>\n
Chronic underfunding is taking a toll on Orillia\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n
The question is: what will be the impact on staff and patients if the local facility continues to face multi-million dollar shortfalls?<\/p>\n
In the eyes of the Ontario Health Coalition \u2013 a group dedicated to protecting public health care \u2013 the future would be undoubtedly bleak for the local facility.<\/p>\n
The coalition\u2019s executive director, Natalie Mehra predicts, \u201ca hospital that has more patients than it\u2019s funded for, that is understaffed and overcrowded, in which care levels continually go down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mehra\u2019s comments follow in the wake of news that the local facility will cut 16 beds in the face of a $5.9 million shortfall.<\/p>\n
The resulting budget plan will also impact the equivalent of 35 full-time jobs.<\/p>\n
Simcoe North MPP Patrick Brown places the blame on the provincial government for what he says is continual underfunding of Ontario\u2019s healthcare system.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s non-stop, the diminishment of healthcare we are seeing in Ontario,\u201d said the Progressive Conservative leader. \u201cBut it is acute in Simcoe County\u201d<\/p>\n
The hospital had success with streamlining and other cost-saving measures in the early days of what is now a chronic funding gap.<\/p>\n
But after four consecutive years of funding freezes, and with only a modest increase to the base budget, \u201cit is harder and harder to do that,\u201d president and CEO Pat Campbell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we are seeing this year and last year more implications in terms of us having to cut services that impact directly on patients,\u201d she added. \u201cThat is not something that is in the long-term best interests of the hospital, and it is certainly not something that is in the long-term best interests of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Front-line workers feel the impact directly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt puts tremendous pressure on the staff to be able to manage the patient needs and flow the patients through the hospital in an effective way,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
The current funding formula has driven hospitals to become more efficient and brought greater certainty for patients requiring specific procedures, such as hip and knee surgeries, which the province funds on a per-patient basis, she added.<\/p>\n
The challenge, says Campbell, lies in the government\u2019s shift away from hospitals as the \u201ccentre of the universe\u201d toward primary (family physicians) and community care.<\/p>\n
In-patient or residential hospital services are increasingly reserved for those who \u201cabsolutely need them\u201d and for as short a period of time as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the adaptation at the community level doesn\u2019t seem to be keeping pace with the constraint that\u2019s being applied to hospital spending,\u201d Campbell added.<\/p>\n
Simcoe.com requested an interview with health minister Eric Hoskins and received a prepared statement on his behalf.<\/p>\n
Hoskins said the province \u201cremains committed to supporting improved care and outcomes for families in Orillia,\u201d adding the government is boosting investments in hospitals by $345 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes a $1.3 million increase to Soldiers\u2019 Memorial Hospital,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Yet of the hospital\u2019s $5.9 million budget shortfall this year, $2 million alone resulted from inflation, including rising utility costs and salaries.<\/p>\n
Another $1.2 million went to cover increases in operating costs, such as an investment in electronic medical records.<\/p>\n
Revenue, meanwhile is projected to fall by $2.7 million \u2013 partially due to a funding program that rewards hospitals based on numerous factors, the dominant ones being efficiency and population growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur population is \u2026 only slightly over the provincial average, whereas there are some communities in the province that are growing more rapidly than we are,\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
Another program ties funding to a hospital\u2019s emergency room performance, another area where Soldiers\u2019 is taking a financial hit as it struggles to move patients from the ER to in-patient beds that often remain filled by so-called alternate-level-of-care patients.<\/p>\n
Reducing the number of surgeries \u2013 as was done last year to balance the budget \u2013 impacts funding and lengthens waiting lists.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the formula is really pushing hospitals to become more efficient, I think one of the questions is, is that having an impact on access?\u201d Campbell said.<\/p>\n
Hoskins insists the province remains committed to high-quality care, adding hospitals \u201cdo excellent work and don\u2019t make staffing decisions lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orillia\u2019s hospital will work with the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network \u201cto manage these upcoming decisions,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
What isn\u2019t up for dispute is that some of those decisions will result in job losses.<\/p>\n
According to the Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association, seven Registered Nursing positions will be eliminated under the approved budget plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce again, this is short-sighted budget cutting on the backs of patients,\u201d said Vicki McKenna, provincial vice-president. \u201cThis is a loss of a tremendous amount of care to that community, to that hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n