Transferring hospital services to private clinics — a line in the sand
OTTAWA – Natalie Mehra says The Ontario Health Coalition is drawing a line in the sand when it comes to service transfers to private endoscopy clinics from The Ottawa Hospital.…
The Ottawa Hospital
The Ottawa Hospital: Restructuring now called cutbacks?
Last week we were in Ottawa publicly challenging the Champlain Local Health Integration Network to treat service transfers from The Ottawa Hospital as an integration decision. There was a terrific…
Could the Wynne government do a u-turn on austerity?
It didn’t get much coverage in the mainstream media, but last week the big banks told Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to take his foot off the brake when it…
If hospital cuts are restructuring, then let’s see the evidence
There is little question that a provincial freeze in base hospital operating funding is motivating the present shedding of staff positions and services across the province. Hospitals are required to…
Integration process missing from new round of hospital cuts
Local Health Integration Networks were purportedly created to bring health care planning, integration, accountability, and funding closer to the 14 regions they serve. A key role for the LHINs was…
No community involvement, details needed when cutting or transferring services to balance a budget
The Local Health Integration Networks were initially set up to involve communities in the decision-making process around delivery of regional health care. We have witnessed health care providers, such as…
News of failed private endoscopy clinic coincides with hospital’s intent to divest more endoscopies
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone in Ottawa. When the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario finally released the list of private clinics that failed their inspection,…
Ottawa and Hamilton: Significant hospital cuts ahead despite rhetoric from Premier-designate
Dr. Jack Kitts, CEO of the Ottawa Hospital, says he plans to transfer about 5,000 endoscopies to community hospitals and clinics as part of an overall plan to find $31…
Visible tattoos and piercings on hospital staff okay — arbitrator
The Ottawa Hospital was attempting to fix a problem that didn’t exist when it unilaterally imposed a new dress code on employees according to a recent arbitration decision. Most contentious…
Are there more managers and fewer front line staff? At some hospitals, absolutely
Earlier this year we issued a freedom of information request to 20 sample hospitals where OPSEU represents health care workers to understand whether managers are in fact replacing front line…