Hospital employees in Ontario form a much smaller part of the population than in the rest of Canada – in 2014 about 0.32 % less of the population than in the rest of Canada. As a result, if Ontario had the same percentage of the population as the rest of
Continue readingAuthor: Doug Allan
Defend Public Healthcare: Rapid change in public hospital services
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) hospital data indicates big changes in hospital activity, particularly in the most recent four years reported. Ontario, especially, is experimenting with hospital cuts and restructuring. Hospital inpatient days are now dropping rapidly in Ontario – with a drop of 13.4% in inpatient days
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Public sector employment in Ontario is far below the rest of Canada
The suggestion that Ontario has a deficit because its public sector is too large does not bear scrutiny. Consider the following. Public sector employment has fallen in the last three quarters in Ontario. Since 2011, public sector employment has been pretty flat, with employment up less than 4 tenths of one
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Hospital worker sick leave: too much or too little?
Ontario hospital workers are much less absent due to illness or disability than hospital workers Canada-wide. In 2014, Ontario hospital workers were absent 10.2 days due to illness or disability, 2.9 days less than the Canada wide average – i.e. 22% less. In fact, Ontario hospital workers have had consistently fewer sick
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: The growing role of Practical Nurses
New Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data paints a picture of rapid change in nursing in Ontario, especially for Practical Nurses (called “RPNs” in Ontario) . Here is a summary of the most interesting data from those charts concerning Ontario. Note: The rapid increase in the Ontario RPN workforce (52.3%
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Lowest health care funding increase ever?
Funding increase hits new low: The Ontario government plans health sector spending growth of 1.2% this year compared with the interim spending estimate for 2014/15. This deepens the trend to cut health care funding increases. ($000s) 2005-6 2006-7 2007-8 2008-9 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012–13 Actual 2013–14 Interim 2014–15 Plan 2015–16
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Collective bargaining in Ontario: New trends, new possibilities
New militancy: Recent strikes in the broader provincial public sector by 13,000 university teaching assistants and Community Care Access Centre employees (mostly RNs) suggest increased willingness of some broader public sector employees to strike to maintain and improve their working conditions. Moreover the workers achieved some success in their strikes.
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Ontario’s economy improves. Will collective bargaining follow?
The Ontario Economy: The 2015 Ontario Budget has revised the government’s real growth estimate up significantly from its 2014 Fall Economic Fiscal Outlook. Real growth for 2014 is now put at 2.2% for 2014, up from the fall forecast of 1.9% and real growth for 2015 is forecast at 2.7%,
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Paramedic Services in Canada: Structure, Privatization, Unionization and other issues
Governance and Funding: While police and fire services are usually municipal services, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are typically controlled by provincial governments. In Ontario, regional municipal governments have responsibility for delivering and funding EMS. But even in Ontario the province plays a key role, strictly regulating EMS, providing funding for
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Why long-term care needs to improve
CUPE and OCHU are campaigning for a legislated minimum average of four worked hours of nursing and personal care per resident per day in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Key points: [1] The relevant population is increasing rapidly; [2] New beds are not being created at the same pace; [3] Resident
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Cascading cuts result in new home care restructuring
The government is coordinating cascading efforts to move patients from organizations where more care is provided to where less care is provided. For hospitals, government funding models and directives have long focused on removing less ill patients. In long term care homes, the government quietly raised the criteria for
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Ontario elder care: fewer staff, more privatization, more private payment
A new report sponsored by the Canadian Institute for Health Information and completed by Statistics Canada indicates that staffing at Ontario long-term care facilities (LTC) falls short of other provinces. The Long-Term Care Facilities Survey indicates that Ontario has 0.598 health care full time equivalent staff (FTE) per LTC bed. Canada
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Ontario fastest growing province. But public services get zip
Four of the big Canadian banks have come out with new forecasts for the Ontario economy and they all indicate the economy is improving. The fall in the price of oil (and, with it, the Canadian dollar) is paying off for Ontario. All four banks predict that Ontario
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Ontario funding plan is LESS than Harper federal transfers
The federal transfers are out for 2015/16 and Ontario has done well –$1.253 billion or 6.5% more than the total federal transfers to Ontario for 2014/15. The total increase in federal transfers ($1.253 billion) equals a 1.1% increase in overall provincial program spending. In contrast, the current provincial government spending
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Ontario set to beat deficit target – despite media reports
There was much gloom in the corporate media’s reports on the Ontario government’s Budget follow-up, the Fall Economic Statement. The Globe and Mail headlined their front page report on the Statement with the claim “Ontario Fades,” concluding that “the key takeaway was that the province’s struggle to rein in its chronic
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Public sector wage settlements fall behind the private sector — and inflation
Have broader public sector workers received larger than average wage settlements than private sector workers? Have broader public sector settlements exceeded inflation? The Ontario Ministry of Labour has just released its report on settlements in August, so we now have data for most of 2014. The data sheds some
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: For-profit LTC beds attract fewer applicants than not-for-profit beds
Government data suggests for-profit long-term care beds are less desired by the public than not-for-profit beds. There are long wait lists for a beds in long-term care (LTC) facilities. (This is driven by the government’s decision to add only a few new LTC beds despite the rapid growth in
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Sharp decline in for-profit health insurance efficiency costs employers
A new study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows sharply increasing inefficiency in the Canadian for-profit health care insurance industry. The study indicates that less and less of the premiums in employer health insurance plans are paid out in benefits by the for-profit insurance industry. Since 1991, the amount paid
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Ontario’s answer to the deficit: 35 years of revenue cuts
In a recent long-term report on the economy, the Ontario government recognized that own-source Ontario government revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has declined over the last fifteen years. The decline is equal to 2 percentage points of the province’s GDP. That is more than $14 billion.
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Rising inflation and a shrinking Ontario deficit?
Revenue prospects for this year: An earlier post looked at poor job creation in Ontario and the impact that might have on obtaining the revenue goals the government has set for this year. Last week’s jobs report for July was dreadful on a Canada-wide basis. But the report noted Ontario saw some pick up
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