Royal Ottawa and CAMH face new prosecutions for unsafe workplaces
It’s not every day that a major Ontario psychiatric hospital is placed on trial, much less two. Health care workers across the province will be closely watching the outcome of…
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Mental health centres must reduce risk to staff and patients
Client Empowerment Council at Ottawa’s psychiatric hospital say they became advocates for the safety of the care team because a “safe place for staff members increased patient safety as well.”…
Transformation or austerity? Hospitals lose further capacity in new round of cuts
In October a Whitby nursing home experienced a major fire displacing more than 250 residents. About 80 of those residents found temporary accommodation in area hospitals. Many are still there…
Wynne and Clark cling to discredited P3s despite damning report
Infrastructure Ontario CEO Bert Clark says the $8 billion premium the government spent to build public infrastructure under the public-private partnership model doesn’t tell the whole story. He’s right, but…
Eight billion reasons why we were right about P3s
If there is any trace of self-respect left within the Ontario government, Premier Kathleen Wynne should do the right thing and pull the plug on Infrastructure Ontario’s public-private partnership (P3)…
Drugs: “Medicare’s unfinished chapter”
Prepare for a wave of misinformation about the costs of providing universal pharmaceutical coverage in Canada, especially now that momentum appears to be building towards the idea. The most recent…
Relationship building with the LHINs
Health care providers have found religion when it comes to involving patients in the planning and decision-making process. At this year’s OHA HealthAchieve every administrator was quick to extol the…
Tories unlikely to stop Bill prohibiting paid plasma, but why are they even trying?
The Ontario Tories recently have appeared to be distancing themselves from some of the more unpopular positions adopted by the party under Tim Hudak. Voting for second reading of an…
Phase II of mental health plan serves up crumbs from the health care table
Above: Arthur Gallant — one of the more inspired choices for the Mental Health and Addictions Leadership Advisory Council. Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins has been doing a lot…
New minister, same tired denials about cuts
Dr. Eric Hoskins may be signing his name, but the latest Toronto Star letter-to-the-editor from the Health Minister sounds as tired and exasperated as those served up by his predecessor.…
Video: OPSEU at Friday’s big health care rally
In this new video Anna Jover and Emily Visser highlight the voices of several OPSEU activists during Friday’s health care rally at Queen’s Park, including President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. About…
4,000-5,000 march on Queen’s Park to oppose privatization of hospital services
Thousands of Ontarians boarded buses in the pre-dawn hours to come to Queen’s Park to defend their public hospitals on Friday afternoon. Organized by the Ontario Health Coalition, the demonstration…
Today’s big demonstration at Queen’s Park
Today will likely be the biggest Ontario Health Coalition demonstration at Queen’s Park since 2008. Across Ontario seniors groups, union activists and family members frustrated with their own access to…
Frustrated nursing staff quit CarePartners as OPSEU charges unfair labour practices
Continuity of care is important to the delivery of home care. Each time a caregiver changes there is a necessary rebuilding of relationships. If caregivers are continually turning over, it…
Revera’s shallow hypocrisy on PSW compensation
Home and residential care giant Revera say they are proud to support Ontario’s wage stabilization initiative for personal support workers (PSWs). Now that their home care workers have received the…
OHA HealthAchieve: Wrestling with the role of patients in the system
There was an epiphany moment at this year’s Ontario Hospital Association HealthAchieve when a hospital administrator responsible for patient surveys admitted that she had been doing it all wrong. The…
Hoskins unveils Health Plan v. 2.0 at OHA HealthAchieve
Ontario’s health minister has what he calls Health Plan version 2.0. Speaking at the closing of the Ontario Hospital Association’s annual HealthAchieve conference, Dr. Eric Hoskins revealed his top four…
Hospital funding freeze, high admin costs show up in quality indicators
For all the shortfalls in Ontario’s health system, the reality is that despite having among the lowest per capita levels of funding, the province is matching if not excelling the…
Desperate governments the best customers of multi-national corporations – conference
Canada has the dubious distinction of being a global leader when it comes to outsourcing and privatization of public services and infrastructure. The rush to outsource comes with very little…
Tainted blood survivors come out in Hamilton, London and Windsor
Tainted has been on the road for three days now, encountering enthusiastic, emotional and well-informed audiences in Hamilton, London and Windsor. Next week there will be six more performances in…