Ontario to fund more private clinic surgeries in bid to stabilize health-care system | FULL

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones’ plan to stabilize the health-care system includes increasing surgeries performed at private clinics but covered by OHIP, covering the exam and registration fees for internationally trained nurses, and sending patients waiting for a long-term care bed to a home not of their choosing.

Jones said Ontario needs to be "bold, innovative and creative" when looking for ways to improve the health system.

"There are some who will fight for the status quo no matter what," she said at the press conference announcing the plan on Thursday.

The plan comes as nursing staff shortages have seen emergency departments across the province close throughout the summer for hours or days at a time.

Language in the document suggests more of a role for privately delivered but publicly covered services, with the government saying it will invest more to increase surgeries in pediatric hospitals and existing private clinics covered by OHIP. It is also considering options for further increasing surgical capacity by increasing the number of those procedures performed at “independent health facilities.”

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[RahRan]

Ontario Government has no clue!
Put more money in primary care (family doctors). Your solution is a band-aid, focus on long term care (goals) and prevention. Your short term fix will just lead to another problem.

[seanyoung]

They have destroyed, not improved the Health Care system. Can't accept the status quo? You have already been in charge for 4 years!

[cujo]

This is absolute garbage. We need real solutions not band aids. This could be the beginning of the end for Canada's universal Healthcare

[midnitestork]

I would love to see a list of who was consulted on this decision. How many frontline workers? Unions? College of Nurses? I want to see real names. The government still hasn’t figured out furniture isn’t going to solve the problem. This woman is so out of her depth.

[Elizabeth-mptr]

$5, 000 retention bonus to nurses is nothing compared to the work they do! They need a 25% income raise permanently! She is saying nothing: "We will work with front line workers to see how we can improve emergency care." Shouldn't you know this already? This says nothing. I can't stand the positive nothingness in her speech. We need "real" change in health care!

[arock]

this isn't going to help the problem. All this is doing is shifting the problem to poorer people which in turns allows the richer population to get their operations quicker. This will also decrease the quality of health care we get in public clinics. As well this is also going to be hard if not impossible to roll back in the future without big payouts from the government to these private clinics.

[kenmunro]

Fund the Provincal health care instead of PROFITS !

[carolion]

It’s not a bid to stabilize our healthcare system. This is a bid to enrich a handful of people to whom Ford is beholding.

[olivergoncalves]

Be careful....A procedure costing you $200 in a hospital, will now cost you $800 in a private setting. Most surgeons find new clients directly from hospital patients.

[christeene]

Having LTC pick up on bed blockers is all fine and dandy...but you need STAFF to provide care to enable this, WHICH THERE ARE NONE🙄🙄🙄

[Nagle]

how is it "private" when the government is funding it?

[honoraryamerica]

Canada over funded Police State has expanded and driven our best talent out of the nation The end result, rather predictable as it were; the collapse of Health Care, slowly but surely

[thchen]

Does your OHIP card also work in those private healthcare services?

[havfaith]

Did they layoff Canadian workers just to hire foreign workers?

[anthonysilva]

I used to think Christine Elliot was the worst MOH.
I was wrong.

[theredboneking]

But what will happen to the tic toc videos of dancing nurses?

[TheJimprez]

A WELL RUN public system is much cheaper than private care. All they have to do is put their pants on and FIX the frigging system. More actual HEALTH workers, less redundant admin staff. And the end of those stupid budgetary envelopes that get spent in wasted shiat just before the end of a spending period, so they don't get less next time around...
I worked for 4 years in a major Trauma emergency. It's a total joke... Lots of little competing fiefdoms and waste without end...

[BocaAtractivo]

Numerous evasive answers.Sounds to me they want profit instead of free healthcare. :( I guarantee that each of the speakers are earning LOTS of money and aren't willing to take a pay cut ;)

[couch]

To deal with the back log in surgeries, created by the province, we are going to use a private facility which will definitely cost more per surgery, and therefore increased deficits. This government has been scratching the backs of so many elites while continuing huge deficits, that you'd swear they all had a big red L by their name.

Less mega hospitals and more clinics, which will result in less middle management and more front line workers - it's not rocket appliances.

[devilchild]

They know there’s an “undue use of agency staff”. Talk to any nurse working in LtC and you will be told they are given and offered shifts over the facility staff. If we can’t afford to properly stock PPE during the outbreaks, why is it they’re so blind to their own overspending on agency staff? They know what they’re doing and it sounds to me like they’ve been given directives from the government to do so.