Amongst all the vital issues of provincial significance that get discussed at this time of year, there is no doubt that health care remains as the number one priority for people in Ontario.
Unfortunately, while health sector spending accounts for about 46 cents of every tax dollar allocated, the size and scope of our health system obscures the most important person: the patient.
All too often, care in Ontario is structured around forms, processes, long lines, and bureaucracy, when it should be built from the patient out.
Over the past eight years, money that should have gone to nurses, emergency rooms, and frontline patient care was instead diverted to salaries and expenses for fancy health care consultants. The lessons learned from the billion dollar e-health boondoggle should not be forgotten.
As Ontario’s Opposition we have watched too long as we pay more and get less in health care services. It’s time for patient-centred reforms that make the patient – not bureaucracies, not administrators – the focus of our health care system.
Tim Hudak has announced plans to grow our investments in health, while instilling the patient centred focus we deserve.
Specifically, we will increase annual investments in health-care by $6.1 billion by the end our first term. At the same time we will introduce a rigorous system of patient satisfaction and health outcome measures including the establishment of wait time guarantees for emergency room visits.
To accomplish our goals we will need to take aim at eliminating fraud and waste in health care and reducing administration.
The Ontario PC plan will target the costly health bureaucracies that take money from direct patient care. We will put a stop to scandals like eHealth and limit health care dollars towards ever-expanding salaries for administrators.
For example, the LHINs are unelected, unaccountable, faceless bureaucracies that the Dalton McGuinty Liberals hide behind whenever there are beds to close, emergency rooms to shut, or nurses to lay off. To date, $300 million health care dollars have been diverted from frontline care to pay for salaries and administration. We will close the LHINs and redirect those dollars to patients.
We continue to advocate bringing more doctors to communities that need them. We will do this by encouraging doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to work collaboratively. We will increase residency placements for medical students from Ontario who have training outside Canada and want to return home to practice. Locally, the excitement surrounding plans for a new Port Dover Health Centre – ideally building on the success of the Delhi Community Health Centre – will go a long way to attracting and retaining physicians and other health professionals.
Our plan also includes improvements in health care for Ontario seniors with 40,000 long-term care beds – 5,000 new and 35,000 upgraded. And we will give homecare users more dignity, more flexibility and more say in determining where they acquire these important services.
For all we pay in taxes, we should receive the highest quality services in the country. In many cases, it’s not about more money but rather about rethinking and revitalizing the way our services work. We will work to ensure we receive the world class health care services we deserve.
AG’s report shines light on government mismanagement
By now, you’re likely aware that last Wednesday Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released her annual report. I scanned the report and media and pieced together what they called highlights—perhaps lowlights may have been a better categorization. Wastage and/or mismanaged funding cut a swath across a variety of ministries.
Hopefully, a little slap on the wrist can re-focus the province on putting money where it is most needed and effective. Keep in mind the Auditor General is an independent non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly. Lysyk plays an important role in holding provincial public sector and broader public sector organization to account for financial-responsibility, well-managed programs and transparency in public reporting. I appreciate and respect the job Ms. Lysyk undertakes.
The recent report shined a light on the fact about $3.5 billion of the $7 billion spent on COVID-19-related contracts were non-competitive procurements between March 2020 and March 2022.
Further, Ontario wasted 38 per cent of COVID-19 vaccine doses between February and June because it overestimated demand for boosters. The province’s auditor also found the government ran a disorganized booking system and neglected to properly track adult vaccinations. In total, COVID-19 vaccine wastage is nine per cent, or 3.4 million doses. Lysyk pointed out that approximately half of that could have been avoided with better forecasting of demand.
While physicians were paid $13 to administer COVID-19 vaccinations in their offices, doctors administering in clinics earned $170 to $220 per hour compared to nurses at $32 to $49 per hour and pharmacists at $30 to $57 per hour.
The province built a COVID-19 database called COVaxON, which cost us $144 million even though a vaccination registry system called Panaroma already exists.
With no public transport, those of us in [my constituency] Haldimand-Norfolk, know full well we pay too much for auto insurance. In fact, Ontarians now pay the highest car insurance premiums in the country—the average premium having grown nearly 14 per cent from 2017 to 2021 to $1,642. Depending where you live in the province can have a huge impact on your rates.
Ontario government to break down barriers to better patient care
QUEEN’S PARK – Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long Term Care, has announced the Government of Ontario’s long-term plan to fix and strengthen the public health care system by focusing directly on the needs of Ontario’s patients and families.
“The people of Ontario deserve a connected health care system that puts their needs first,” said Elliott. “At the same time the people of Ontario deserve peace of mind that this system is sustainable and accessible for all patients and their families, regardless of where you live, how much you make, or the kind of care you require.”
Ontario’s new plan would improve access to services and improve patient experience by:
Organizing health care providers to work as one coordinated team, focused on patients and specific local needs. Patients would experience easy transitions from one health provider to another (for example, between hospitals and home care providers, with one patient story, one patient record and one care plan).
Providing patients, families and caregivers with help in navigating the public health care system, 24/7.
Integrating multiple provincial agencies and specialized provincial programs into a single agency to provide a central point of accountability and oversight for the health care system. This would improve clinical guidance and support for providers and enable better quality care for patients.
Improving access to secure digital tools, including online health records and virtual care options for patients, providing a 21st-century approach to health care.
“If we expect real improvements that patients will experience first-hand, we must better coordinate the public health care system, so it is organized around people’s needs and outcomes. This will enable local teams of health care providers to know and understand each patient’s needs and provide the appropriate, high-quality connected care Ontarians expect and deserve,” said Elliott.
Ontario’s renewed patient-centric approach is paired with historic investments in long-term care for seniors and improved mental health and addictions services for families. Ontario is investing $3.8 billion over 10 years to establish a comprehensive and connected system for mental health and addictions treatment, and adding 15,000 new long-term care beds over five years and 30,000 beds over 10 years.
“Our government is taking a comprehensive, pragmatic approach to addressing our public health care system,” said Toby Barrett, MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk. “By relentlessly focusing on patient experience, and on better connected care, we will reduce wait times and end hallway health care. Ontarians can be confident that there will be a sustainable health care system for them when and where they need it.”
“Today’s announcement by Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Christine Elliot goes a long way towards our government’s pledge to end hallway health care,” said Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman. “Whether it’s for hospitals in Oxford Country, or anywhere else in the province, patients and their families will benefit from reduced waiting lists and a more responsive health care system.”
“Our focus on patient experience will result in reduced wait times and end hallway health care in Brantford and Brant County,” said Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma.
Quick Facts
The government intends to introduce legislation that would, if passed, support the establishment of local Ontario Health Teams that connect health care providers and services around patients and families, as well as integrate multiple existing provincial agencies into a single health agency – Ontario Health.
The entire process will be seamlessly phased in to ensure that Ontarians can continue to contact their health care providers as usual throughout the transition process.
The government has consulted with patients, families, nurses, doctors and others who provide direct patient care, including the Premier’s Council on Improving Healthcare and Ending Hallway Medicine and its working groups, the Minister’s Patient and Family Advisory Council, as well as health system and academic experts.
Ontario currently has a large network of provincial and regional agencies, clinical oversight bodies and 1,800 health service provider organizations. This creates confusion for both patients and providers trying to navigate the health care system.
Additional Resources
Backgrounder: Building a Connected Public Health Care System for the Patient
Read the Premier’s Council report: Hallway Health Care: A System Under Strain
Learn more about Ontario’s plan to build a connected public health care system at ontario.ca/connectedcare
For more information- (please mention The Silo when contacting)
MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446 or toby.barrett@pc.ola.org
MPP Will Bouma at 519-759-0361or will.bouma@pc.ola.org
MPP Ernie Hardeman at 416-326-3067 or jeff.wigle@ontario.ca