Ford government’s controversial plan for private medical clinics will begin this spring
Sunday, January 21st, 2024
The Ontario government will approve more privately owned clinics to provide diagnostic services like CTs and MRIs and surgeries starting April 1… critics fear will bleed the public health system of doctors, nurses and other resources at a time when patients face record waits in hospital emergency rooms… Ontario currently has more than 900 private clinics in operation, mainly providing X-rays and other diagnostic services, and many of them predate [this] government.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Hospitals plagued by staff shortages and ER closures under Ford government, auditor general finds
Wednesday, December 6th, 2023
Plagued by shortages of doctors and nurses and persistent emergency room closures, Ontario lacks a province-wide strategy to fix the problems, the watchdog agency said in a wide-ranging audit of government performance… The worsening staff shortages have been fuelled by the Ford government’s Bill 124, which limited nurses and many other public sector workers to maximum annual pay hikes of one per cent, the auditor found.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Liberals promise to end for-profit long-term care in Ontario
Thursday, April 28th, 2022
Calling the warehousing of seniors in long-term-care homes “one of the greatest mistakes” of the last century, Ontario’s Liberals are pledging a multibillion-dollar shift to caring for the elderly in their own homes as long as possible… The $2-billion “home-care-first” plan would provide more supports to seniors who could move on to smaller, more-homestyle facilities when they need higher levels of care…
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, housing, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Under pressure, Ontario government scrambles to launch a provincial sick leave program
Tuesday, April 20th, 2021
Ford scrapped the previous two days of guaranteed paid sick leave that were on the books after his Progressive Conservative toppled former premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals in 2018. Local public health officers, mayors, opposition parties and the government’s science table of advisers have long urged paid sick days for workers whose employers don’t provide them. That has led to many essential workers going to their jobs with COVID-19 symptoms, spreading the virus.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario adding mental health beds in 16 hospitals as COVID-19 takes a toll
Monday, January 25th, 2021
Ontario is adding mental health beds in 16 hospitals to cope with increased demand and will increase funding for a seniors’ help line as pandemic lockdowns continue under the state of emergency and stay-at-home orders… The new beds account for most of the $12 million set aside for the expansions in mental health services, which include $130,000 for the Seniors Safety Line to hire and train more operators to meet higher volumes of calls to their toll-free number 1-866-299-1011.
Tags: budget, mental Health, participation
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Ontario expands mental health teams working with police as pandemic drives up 911 calls
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020
Ontario is expanding the number of mobile mental health teams working with police officers in response to an increase in 911 calls from people in distress during the COVID-19 pandemic… “We anticipate that this funding will help divert individuals who are experiencing a crisis to appropriate community-based care rather than the person ending up in the hospital emergency department or justice system”
Tags: budget, mental Health
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Ontario unleashes record spending for COVID-19 pandemic with $17B in emergency measures
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
Finance Minister Rod Phillips on Wednesday injected $3.3 billion more into health plus $3.7 billion for other supports and promised an additional $10 billion in tax deferrals, doubling the deficit to $20.5 billion… “COVID-19 is an extraordinary threat to the health and economy of Ontario…” “We will spend whatever it takes,” Ford told reporters.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario sets up locations for COVID-19 assessment centres and postpones public health cuts
Thursday, March 12th, 2020
This move “recognizes the considerable time and resources necessary for public health units to effectively respond to COVID-19”… Parts of Ontariot serviced by the assessment centres will be served by hospital emergency wards. The province is also boosting resources for Telehealth Ontario, which has seen high call volumes and long waits as people call in with questions about the new coronavirus.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario revamps mental health services
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020
Ontario’s plan to revamp mental health services with a new agency to focus on cutting long wait times is just talk unless it’s backed up with “substantial and immediate” funding of almost $400 million in Premier Doug Ford’s spring budget, mental health groups warn… Her plan includes a mental health Centre of Excellence, to function like Cancer Care Ontario has done over the years to make the provincial cancer system more responsive, as a “single point of accountability” to improve wait times and boost service levels.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
‘They have failed us.’ Parents of kids with rare diseases feel let down by Ford government
Thursday, February 27th, 2020
Families needing revolutionary and expensive drugs to beat the symptoms of rare diseases like cystic fibrosis say Health Minister Christine Elliott has let them down after championing improved access to medications when the PCs were in opposition just a few years ago… Elliott said she has been trying to speed the federal and provincial approval processes for the drugs and to get them covered in Ontario… In 2014, Elliott said “we have to be able to find the money” to pay for such drugs by restructuring the health-care system.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, youth
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
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