Premier Doug Ford's Ontario

[picard102]

No one is shooting the messenger, but if the message is incorrect it should be debated.

There's no debate though, it's happening and has been profiled in multiple stores, enough so that they are studying it to see how many people have died trying to avoid getting covid.

 

[Northern Light]

No one is shooting the messenger, but if the message is incorrect it should be debated.
ER visits are down, as it should be and expected, it shows that people are simply assessing their needs for an emergency visit.
So you are aware of the hours your doctor's clinic has, you then can call back during office hours. If you are concerned about what your family's medical needs are address them, help them but don't ignore your needs. Ignoring a faulty medical device is not resolving the problem. Since it was your mothers choice not to address the problem during office hours, it was not the fault of the clinic or medical staff. Maybe if the fear of germs is severe enough to stop anyone from seeking medical care it should perhaps be addressed next time you (they) see a physician.

We are all guilty of ignoring our aches and pains that should be investigated - not just during this pandemic.

In fairness, reduced hours and long delays are a discouragement to some and a serious obstacle to others.

In an Ontario where many people lack paid sick/personal days; the absence of weekend/evening service times can pose a very real challenge.

That doesn't let others off the hook who have that flexibility open to them mind you.

But neither can we fail to recognize that some clinicians are providing less service w/o a meritorious reason.

One is no more likely to catch Covid on weekends or evenings than during typical office hours!

 

[Thinker]

In fairness, reduced hours and long delays are a discouragement to some and a serious obstacle to others.

In an Ontario where many people lack paid sick/personal days; the absence of weekend/evening service times can pose a very real challenge.

That doesn't let others off the hook who have that flexibility open to them mind you.

But neither can we fail to recognize that some clinicians are providing less service w/o a meritorious reason.

One is no more likely to catch Covid on weekends or evenings than during typical office hours!

In fairness, yes, reduced office hours and delays are discouraging, but no one is refused medical attention. Yes lack of paid sick days/time has to be addressed and current conservatives are also to blame, but this was also a problem prior to the pandemic. Medical staff was/is available but crowded waiting rooms have been avoided by assessing patients before they were given an appointment. I do not know of any general practitioner who closed down their practice and refused to address the needs of their patients. My dermatologist and ophthalmologist closed their office for routine visits but were available for emergencies.

 

[Jasmine18]

Actually if you go to an er right now you likely the best care due to high staffing levels and low demand.

 

[Thinker]

Actually if you go to an er right now you likely the best care due to high staffing levels and low demand.

Actually you should stay out of the ER unless it's life threatening or an emergency that cannot be resolved by going through the regular, albeit reduced and frustrating clinic hours. This is the problem even before Covid-19, leading to long wait times and overcrowding ER waiting rooms.

 

[Towered]

Personal experiences are all over the place. A friend is having a completely different experience ... her elective surgery has been moved up because others have cancelled, preferring to avoid hospitals. Both your and her experience are anecdotal, so it will be interesting to see data on this if and when it becomes available. I wonder if there are regional differences, or differences by type of surgery, doctor’s choice vs patient’s choice, etc.

When I called the hospital in July for an update, they told me that all elective surgeries were on hold until further notice, and couldn't even give me a rough time estimate.

 

[Northern Light]

Actually you should stay out of the ER unless it's life threatening or an emergency that cannot be resolved by going through the regular, albeit reduced and frustrating clinic hours. This is the problem even before Covid-19, leading to long wait times and overcrowding ER waiting rooms.

That's true; but its also true that:

a) Its often terribly difficult to get a family doctor.

My father had a couple of tough health years before he died. He had never had a family doctor, at least not since I was a child.

It was absolutely essential to get him one.

I put him on the provincial list, where someone is supposed to find you one...............that did nothing......months passed.

I had to phone any number of practices to get him a doctor.

That's absurd.

In Denmark, the system finds you a doctor; you can change doctors; but you do not go without one.

Fully 98% of Danes have a family doctor.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...l_Practice_and_Primary_Health_Care_in_Denmark


b) The coverage gaps that exist are material. Many people go ERs because they can't wait to have their issue addressed.

It isn't always an 'emergency' but sometimes, in fairness, a lay person may not know how serious their injury is; or whether a flu demands some form of medical management (or may not be the flu)

I have a family doctor whose part of a group practice, notwithstanding 2 dozen physicians in this practice, even pre-pandemic, coverage only amounted to service to 8pm, 3 days per week, and Saturday mornings, otherwise typical office hours.

If one gets ill/injured after 11am on a Saturday and can't even schedule an appointment before Monday at 8am, and that's if anyone answers the phone...........the ER becomes a go-to.


c) Even when one phones during office hours........if you don't specify you have an urgent need, you'd be told you can have an appt in 2 weeks.

I know how to speak to people and can invariably be seen sooner if needs be; but most people, in my experience don't know that option exists or don't feel comfortable taking it.

****

If we want people to stop misusing ERs, we need to to make it easy to do the right thing; not merely difficult to do the wrong.

 

[AlbertC]

Pandemic 'Heroes' Pay the Price as Hospitals Cut Registered Nurses to Balance Budgets

OSHAWA, ON, Sept. 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Yet another Ontario hospital has issued lay-off notices to front-line registered nurses (RNs) – the very nurses hailed as heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lakeridge Health has informed the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) that it is cutting eight full-time and six part-time RNs from several of its units as it seeks to balance its budget. ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN, has expressed anger that employers are undertaking a round of RN cuts during a pandemic that is far from over.

"News of still more RN layoffs is incredibly disappointing and disheartening," says McKenna. "This is the second time in the space of a week that a large Greater Toronto Area hospital is opting to put money over care. Lakeridge Health is cutting RNs who provide high quality care to patients in the acute medicine unit, surgical program and most alarmingly, the infectious disease clinic. It's truly outrageous that this is the route that management is taking to balance the budget and the residents of Durham Region who rely on Lakeridge for their health-care needs should be very alarmed."

McKenna says that Ontario has yet to take the lessons of research on RN staffing levels to heart. Multiple studies have shown that cutting RN care leads to patients suffering a seven-per-cent increase in morbidity (complications) and mortality (death).

"I am dumbfounded that in the midst of a pandemic, when Ontarians are out thanking front-line nurses for their incredible dedication, courage and skills, that Toronto Rehab and now, Lakeridge Health is cutting the very people who make a difference to their patients' health outcomes and provide such good value. ONA is calling on this government to stop the RN cuts now and urging Ontarians to do the same. This is too important to everyone to stay silent."

Pandemic 'Heroes' Pay the Price as Hospitals Cut Registered Nurses to Balance Budgets

/CNW/ - Yet another Ontario hospital has issued lay-off notices to front-line registered nurses (RNs) – the very nurses hailed as heroes during the COVID-19...

www.newswire.ca

 

[Johnny Au]

Pandemic 'Heroes' Pay the Price as Hospitals Cut Registered Nurses to Balance Budgets

OSHAWA, ON, Sept. 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Yet another Ontario hospital has issued lay-off notices to front-line registered nurses (RNs) – the very nurses hailed as heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lakeridge Health has informed the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) that it is cutting eight full-time and six part-time RNs from several of its units as it seeks to balance its budget. ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN, has expressed anger that employers are undertaking a round of RN cuts during a pandemic that is far from over.

"News of still more RN layoffs is incredibly disappointing and disheartening," says McKenna. "This is the second time in the space of a week that a large Greater Toronto Area hospital is opting to put money over care. Lakeridge Health is cutting RNs who provide high quality care to patients in the acute medicine unit, surgical program and most alarmingly, the infectious disease clinic. It's truly outrageous that this is the route that management is taking to balance the budget and the residents of Durham Region who rely on Lakeridge for their health-care needs should be very alarmed."

McKenna says that Ontario has yet to take the lessons of research on RN staffing levels to heart. Multiple studies have shown that cutting RN care leads to patients suffering a seven-per-cent increase in morbidity (complications) and mortality (death).

"I am dumbfounded that in the midst of a pandemic, when Ontarians are out thanking front-line nurses for their incredible dedication, courage and skills, that Toronto Rehab and now, Lakeridge Health is cutting the very people who make a difference to their patients' health outcomes and provide such good value. ONA is calling on this government to stop the RN cuts now and urging Ontarians to do the same. This is too important to everyone to stay silent."

Pandemic 'Heroes' Pay the Price as Hospitals Cut Registered Nurses to Balance Budgets

/CNW/ - Yet another Ontario hospital has issued lay-off notices to front-line registered nurses (RNs) – the very nurses hailed as heroes during the COVID-19...

www.newswire.ca

Cutting registered nurses to balance budgets is part of the Trumpian and Bolsonarist School of Economics in which killing people through neglect is preferable to budget deficits. Hitler tried that strategy to pay for the reparation costs by committing genocide to anyone he didn't like. It didn't work.

No matter one's belief system (not even Chinese ancestral veneration that involves the burning of "Hell Banknotes"), one cannot bring money over after dying.

 

[Northern Light]

Pandemic 'Heroes' Pay the Price as Hospitals Cut Registered Nurses to Balance Budgets

OSHAWA, ON, Sept. 11, 2020 /CNW/ - Yet another Ontario hospital has issued lay-off notices to front-line registered nurses (RNs) – the very nurses hailed as heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lakeridge Health has informed the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) that it is cutting eight full-time and six part-time RNs from several of its units as it seeks to balance its budget. ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN, has expressed anger that employers are undertaking a round of RN cuts during a pandemic that is far from over.

"News of still more RN layoffs is incredibly disappointing and disheartening," says McKenna. "This is the second time in the space of a week that a large Greater Toronto Area hospital is opting to put money over care. Lakeridge Health is cutting RNs who provide high quality care to patients in the acute medicine unit, surgical program and most alarmingly, the infectious disease clinic. It's truly outrageous that this is the route that management is taking to balance the budget and the residents of Durham Region who rely on Lakeridge for their health-care needs should be very alarmed."

McKenna says that Ontario has yet to take the lessons of research on RN staffing levels to heart. Multiple studies have shown that cutting RN care leads to patients suffering a seven-per-cent increase in morbidity (complications) and mortality (death).

"I am dumbfounded that in the midst of a pandemic, when Ontarians are out thanking front-line nurses for their incredible dedication, courage and skills, that Toronto Rehab and now, Lakeridge Health is cutting the very people who make a difference to their patients' health outcomes and provide such good value. ONA is calling on this government to stop the RN cuts now and urging Ontarians to do the same. This is too important to everyone to stay silent."

Pandemic 'Heroes' Pay the Price as Hospitals Cut Registered Nurses to Balance Budgets

/CNW/ - Yet another Ontario hospital has issued lay-off notices to front-line registered nurses (RNs) – the very nurses hailed as heroes during the COVID-19...

www.newswire.ca

Lets acknowledge upfront this is a stupid decision.

Now lets discuss why its happening.

1) Ontario hospitals are not allowed to run deficits.

Unto itself that is understandable and wise.............its also routinely overlooked by the MoH depending on the year..............

But.....it does mean that hospitals have an affirmative obligation to balance their budgets, absent changes in law/regulation to the contrary.

Also important to note that isn't new..............its been a rule for a very long time.

That doesn't let the current gov't off the hook for not addressing either the regulation/law or funding.

But the problem didn't start with them..............it just hasn't been addressed by them.

2) Ontario produces a prodigious number of RNs, and exceptionally qualified ones at that.

Our grads are in high demand in the US, to the point that U.S. border states depend on them to make up a statistically significant factor of hospital staff.

3) Yet, we have shifted away from using full RNs in favour of RPNs (registered practical nurse).

For the simple reason the latter is cheaper.

This has been an amusing (in a certain way) if dubious trend.

Ontario has been among the leaders in utilizing nurse practitioners and expanded practice pharmacists.

But we've done so in order to deliver medicine more cheaply than through doctors.

This creates a logical follow through all the way down the food chain.

4) Each time a level of professional can do more................they cost more, either in total services rendered (fee for service) or in higher salary because they are qualified to do more things.

In other words a portion of the savings of delegating tasks to a lesser-paid tier of the medical profession (as with many others) is that the lower paid tier becomes higher paid as a result of said delegation.

In turn the desire forms to lower that cost by delegating something(s) they do to a lower-still paid tier and so on.

To some degree, this idea is well intentioned, and can serve 'the system' well.

But at another level its an endless exercise in cost-cutting that under values wider experience and knowledge.

That attitude permeates this sort of decision.........in addition to the regulations and laws that mandate something of this ilk.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Lets acknowledge upfront this is a stupid decision.

Now lets discuss why its happening.

1) Ontario hospitals are not allowed to run deficits.

Unto itself that is understandable and wise.............its also routinely overlooked by the MoH depending on the year..............

But.....it does mean that hospitals have an affirmative obligation to balance their budgets, absent changes in law/regulation to the contrary.

Also important to note that isn't new..............its been a rule for a very long time.

That doesn't let the current gov't off the hook for not addressing either the regulation/law or funding.

But the problem didn't start with them..............it just hasn't been addressed by them.

2) Ontario produces a prodigious number of RNs, and exceptionally qualified ones at that.

Our grads are in high demand in the US, to the point that U.S. border states depend on them to make up a statistically significant factor of hospital staff.

3) Yet, we have shifted away from using full RNs in favour of RPNs (registered practical nurse).

For the simple reason the latter is cheaper.

This has been an amusing (in a certain way) if dubious trend.

Ontario has been among the leaders in utilizing nurse practitioners and expanded practice pharmacists.

But we've done so in order to deliver medicine more cheaply than through doctors.

This creates a logical follow through all the way down the food chain.

4) Each time a level of professional can do more................they cost more, either in total services rendered (fee for service) or in higher salary because they are qualified to do more things.

In other words a portion of the savings of delegating tasks to a lesser-paid tier of the medical profession (as with many others) is that the lower paid tier becomes higher paid as a result of said delegation.

In turn the desire forms to lower that cost by delegating something(s) they do to a lower-still paid tier and so on.

To some degree, this idea is well intentioned, and can serve 'the system' well.

But at another level its an endless exercise in cost-cutting that under values wider experience and knowledge.

That attitude permeates this sort of decision.........in addition to the regulations and laws that mandate something of this ilk.

There are also "medical" decisions made by bureaucrats who have non-medical backgrounds nor educated in the medical fields . Premier Doug Ford himself was a Humber College dropout (after two months).

 

[zang]

There are also "medical" decisions made by bureaucrats who have non-medical backgrounds nor educated in the medical fields . Premier Doug Ford himself was a Humber College dropout (after two months).

Ahhh, but he was a Carleton dropout before that!

4 year program, drop out.
2 year program, drop out.
Pamphlet handed out on a street corner, pass with honours!

 

[Jasmine18]

Jokes read social media

Ford is like trump

However polls show his party at 45 percent


Think his shoot from the hip messaging is helping him a lot in thesuburbs

 

[W. K. Lis]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1308519439760007169

Ford’s refusal to fix COVID testing promotes privatization and gouging: NDP

From link.

QUEEN’S PARK - Doug Ford is forcing families to pay $400 for a COVID-19 test that should be free and is undermining public medicare, said NDP Deputy Leader Sara Singh during question period Tuesday.

“Families that have been left waiting cold, lonely hours for COVID tests desperately need the Ford government to improve their testing plan for a second wave,” said Singh, MPP for Brampton Centre.

Private for-profit testing is gouging families, and letting those with deep pockets jump the queue, said Singh, who added that experts have been telling the Ford government for months to prepare for the testing needs of a second wave.

“Instead, Doug Ford has allowed testing to fall short of targets, and lines to stretch for hours,” said Singh, leading some companies to offer private testing at $429 per test.

“Will the premier allow people to pay their way to the front of the COVID-testing line, and what does this say about the government’s testing plan that people are being forced to pay $429 to skip the line?

“Doug Ford is telling all families: pay up, or wait.”

Minister Christine Elliott responded to the question, suggesting that the Ford government is fine with the private-for-profit testing.

 

[AlbertC]

The next hospital to (signficantly) cut RN positions

Southlake Regional Health Centre lays off 97 Registered Nurses: More than 176,000 hours of RN direct patient care lost

Sept 22, 2020

NEWMARKET, ON, Sept. 22, 2020 /CNW/ - During a global pandemic when registered nurses (RNs) are needed to provide front-line care, Southlake Regional Health Centre will be laying off 97 registered nurses. This works out to be more than 176,000 hours of RN direct patient care lost to cuts.

"I cannot fathom how Southlake Regional Health Centre CEO Arden Krystal can justify cutting front-line registered nurses during a global pandemic," notes ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN. "With the second wave of COVID-19 and the upcoming influenza season, which will put undue pressure on all hospitals, cutting registered nurses is completely irresponsible."

The cuts are widespread and occurring at many busy acute care units in which patient acuity is very high. "These cuts will devastate the Newmarket community," adds McKenna. "I would like to know what the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott thinks about these disastrous front-line RN cuts as they are happening right within her riding of Newmarket-Aurora."

Adds McKenna: "The hospital cites its budget as the reason for the cuts and, if this is so, then the government needs to immediately step in and do an audit and prevent these layoffs from happening. These cuts follow on the heels of recent announcements of RN cuts at Toronto Rehab and Lakeridge Health. This needs to stop and stop now."

Southlake Regional Health Centre lays off 97 Registered Nurses: More than 176,000 hours of RN direct patient care lost

/CNW/ - During a global pandemic when registered nurses (RNs) are needed to provide front-line care, Southlake Regional Health Centre will be laying off 97...

www.newswire.ca