Struggling with a strained health care system, Ontario released a plan Thursday to ease the burden on the province’s hospitals.
In particular, the Ford government will introduce a bill which, if passed, will help patients whose doctors have declared that they no longer need hospital treatment to be transferred to a care center. long term which is not necessarily their first choice.
These “alternate level of care patients” occupy thousands of hospital beds in the province, while many of them should be cared for in CHSLDs instead. According to the Globe and Mailthere were nearly 5,000 in Ontario in May, 1,700 more than at the same time last year.
“We won’t force the patient to leave the hospital, but the bill will allow us to have a conversation with the patient,” said Long-Term Care Minister Paul Calandra.
This is not the first time the Ford government has taken such action. In August 2021, the province amended the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act for the same reasons. However, the measure could only be used in the event of major congestion.
The Ontario government estimates that it can free up 2,500 hospitals thanks to the measures proposed on Thursday.
The province will also make more use of independent health facilities to reduce the number of backlogs in the province. “We will look first to places where the infrastructure is already in place,” explained the Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones.
management to defend
In a report released in February, the Ontario Medical Association determined that one million surgeries were missed between February 2020 and December 2021.
The government will also invest more to increase the number of surgeries covered by OHIP at existing pediatric hospitals and private clinics. Health Minister Sylvia Jones, who is also Deputy Premier, insisted that Ontarians “will always have access to health care through their health card,” not by their credit card.
Mme Jones and Premier Doug Ford have been defending their management of the province’s health system for several days. Nearly 25 hospitals had to reduce their activities in July and August due to lack of staff. The Premier assured earlier this month that all Ontarians were getting the care they needed, a claim that has been questioned by some medical professionals.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.