Union official says Ford government faces 'stark choice' in fixing healthcare

Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government, steered by Premier Doug Ford, is poised to carry out its intention to reduce spending in order to rein in the deficit and attack the province’s staggering $348 billion debt.

All well and good, many would say, but that has healthcare groups concerned.

“We want to draw attention to the fact that, if the government honours its commitments in terms of cutting program spending by four per cent (across the board) and cutting income taxes by $7.5 billion, these things together suggest the government will have to make some deep cuts, and (draw attention to) the impact we see on Sault Area Hospital,” said Toronto-based Michael Hurley, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU)/CUPE president, speaking to SooToday.

Hurley was in Sault Ste. Marie Tuesday, currently on a tour of northern Ontario for OCHU/CUPE.

“Until (former Liberal Premier) Dalton McGuinty, Ontario’s hospital funding was on par with the rest of Canada and it started to diverge in 2006 and now we spend about $400 less per citizen than any other province in the country,” Hurley said, quoting from a long list of stats provided by OCHU/CUPE.

“The cost of a hospital stay in Canada is about $5,900. In the Sault it’s about $5,400 (close to the Ontario average of $5,360 for a two-day stay in hospital).”

“(However), in terms of beds we in Ontario have the fewest beds in proportion to the population in the country, and far fewer than other developed economies. In terms of beds per 1,000 people, Canada has 2.79 beds per thousand, and Ontario is at 2.19 beds per one thousand people,” Hurley said.

“We have significantly less capacity. It’s the lowest level of bed capacity of any hospital system in Canada or of any country with a developed economy...your hospital bed occupancy here in the Sault was at 107 per cent (at one point) in 2017-2018. In Britain for example, anything over 85 per cent would be considered unsafe.”

Running at over-capacity, Hurley said, leads to poorer quality of care.

“It means the amount of time the physicians, the nurses, and every other person in the hospital system can spend on you is diluted. Your care gets watered down, so medical errors start to go up, quality of care issues start to go up. There’s a Canadian Medical Association Journal article that shows Ontario and Quebec continue to lead the nation in terms of C. difficile cases...with the overcrowding you get the spread of these hospital-acquired infections.”

“Your occupancy rate (at SAH) is really seriously high. It’s dangerously high,” Hurley said.

“Your readmission rate, one thing Ontario’s been doing is building in these incentives to whip people out of hospital faster, right? But almost 10 per cent are coming back...there’s incredible pressure on you and your family to get out.”

The increase over four years from 8.9 readmissions per 100 patients to 9.2 is a 3.4 per cent increase (at SAH and North Shore hospitals), according to stats provided by OCHU/CUPE.

The cause for alarm, Hurley said, is also increasing due to an aging population, which includes baby boomers who are now needing hospital care for the first time in their lives, along with patients who have lived into their 90s.

Long term care facilities in the Sault and area, Hurley added, “are still being funded on a model from the days in which people could dress themselves and walk to the dining room. They’re not being funded for people who have intravenous drugs and are on oxygen.”

“Same problem in home care. It’s harder to get,” Hurley said.

The Ford government’s aim to cut four per cent in spending on government programs, Hurley warned, “would mean a reduction of eight beds at Sault Area Hospital and one bed in the North Shore (the North Shore Health Network, including hospitals in Blind River, Thessalon and Richards Landing), and bed occupancy rates could increase to 110 per cent.”

“But there’s more in the works. Also vulnerable are the flu season beds, you’ve got eight (at SAH) and we don’t have a commitment to continue them.”

Hurley said some economists have projected the Ford government will face, by the third year of its mandate, a $13 billion deficit, necessitating an eight per cent cut to government funded programs in order to balance the budget.

That would lead to a loss of between 17 and 28 permanent and seasonal beds in our area, pushing hospital bed occupancy rates up to 115 per cent and a loss of between 72 and 156 hospital jobs, Hurley said.

The solution, according to OCHU/CUPE?

“The question is ‘how do we end hallway medicine?’ which is certainly a problem for you in the Sault,” Hurley said.

Hurley said OCHU/CUPE agrees with the Auditor General’s call for 33,000 additional long term care beds.

“That’s way more than any party promised in the last election,” Hurley said.

The Ford government, in its Throne Speech, promised to add 15,000 new long term care beds.     

“Hospitals also need about 5.2 per cent a year in funding increases. They’re not getting that...we’re encouraging the government to look at funding the hospitals at that cost,” Hurley said.

Where should the Ford government, in OCHU/CUPE’s view, find that increased healthcare funding?

Raise corporate taxes, Hurley said.

“We would say the previous government cut the level of corporate taxation in Ontario to the lowest level of any province or state in North America. That’s created a revenue problem, now we have deficits. I would say that we could raise corporate taxes in Ontario without negatively impacting investment here. We don’t have to be the highest, we just have to be somewhere in the middle, and our deficit problems would not be anywhere near as significant.”     

Hurley also said spending scandals which occurred under the Dalton McGuinty/Kathleen Wynne Liberal regime must not be repeated.

While acknowledging deficits and debt need to be addressed, Hurley said Ontario’s new government “has a moral choice to make.”

“It’s a defining moment for the values of a society. Do you provide that care or do you say ‘no, it’s too expensive and we’re not going to look after you.’ That’s the stark choice.”