Announcement of regulation allowing transfer of hospital procedures to private clinics raises Ornge fiasco redux fears

TORONTO, Aug. 21, 2013 /CNW/ - The deep summer announcement of a provincial regulation to shift hospital based services to private clinics raises many red flags, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

The Ontario Ministry of Health's forays into privatization of hospitals (Brampton, Ottawa, North Bay), electronic health records and air ambulance services have been widely acknowledged as hugely expensive failures. In Quebec the government recently had to return work contracted to private clinics from hospitals, after discovering that the clinics were charging "facility fees".

The transfers of hospital services to stand alone facilities in the U.S. were halted by Congress after numerous fatalities.

" Private clinics skim the easiest procedures from hospitals, leaving public hospitals with the most complex and expensive cases. The efficiency of the private clinic delivery model is a mirage. Pulling services from hospitals also threatens their ongoing viability- one of the reasons the US Congress imposed a ban on such transfers" says Michael Hurley, the president of CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU).

" We are very concerned because there have been many fatalities in stand-alone clinics in the United States. Stand-alone facilities are not equipped to deal with life-threatening medical emergencies. Worse, cuts to Ontario's ambulance services mean that we may not be able to move patients back to hospital in time if they require emergency care. We are deeply concerned because the Liberal government's stand on for-profit delivery of health services is so ambiguous" says Hurley.

" The Ornge and P3 hospital debacles showed the huge difficulty the media and the public have in getting any information about cost. Private organizations operate behind a wall of secrecy. Earlier this year the government refused to report private clinics that failed inspection. We ask the government to shelve this regulation and plans to move services from hospitals until these concerns can be fully debated and resolved" says Hurley.

SOURCE: Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE)

Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE  416-884-0770
Doug Allan, CUPE Research  416-526-4497