The #Ontario College of Family Physicians now predicts over 4 million Ontarians will be without a family doctor by 2026. That number currently stands at 2 million. If you think our ERs are crowded now, just wait…
New from colleague Colin D'Mello: "As government lawyers attempt to shield Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s personal cellphone records from being publicly released, new documents show several prominent ministers in his cabinet had large stretches of inactivity on their official devices when critical government decisions were being made." #onpoli
During January 2023, #SylviaJones did not make a single call from her government cellphone. 👀
Jan/23 -- Jones not only announced her plan to "eliminate the surgical backlog" by funding private surgical clinics, she also announced the expansion of pharmacist's roles in #Ontario public healthcare delivery.
Subscription services such as Maple / Shoppers, pharmacists diagnosing 'common' ailments and their expanding role in Public Health services such as immunization. #bill60
While Christine Elliott was #Ontario health minister (2018 - 2022), the province's annual payments to the private Clearpoint - Don Mills Surgical unit QUADRUPLED. Her current lobbyist registration says her goal is to "engage the provincial government in updating & increasing the base funding amount available to Clearpoint."
#Ontario health minister #SylviaJones met with Clearpoint private surgical on July 18, within her first month in office. #priorities
She proceeded to pass #Bill60 which includes provisions to make it less transparent & easier to funnel money to private clinics such as Clearpoint.
Note: there is NO cap on the number of new clinics the govt will license nor is there a limit to the number or type of surgeries that will ultimately be shifted to private clinics.
"If I were running that centre, I would be a millionaire" - #DougFord gives a for-profit clinic more funding to perform OHIP-covered surgeries than it gives #Ontario's public #hospitals to perform the same operations.
Ford and his health minister [#SylviaJones] have pitched this expansion as a cost-efficient way to get more surgeries done and reduce wait times.
🤣
The rates paid to Don Mills Surgical Unit Ltd. have never before made public.
Former Minister of Health, Christine Elliot, is now a lobbyist for Clearpoint, a private surgery company that's set to benefit off the Ford Conservative government's privatization of #Ontario healthcare.
Clearpoint, a large chain of private surgical clinics was created in 2019 (when Elliott was Minister of Health, coincidently) with Kensington Capital Investments listed as the owner.
The Toronto surgical unit, (oddly named Don Mills) is located on Dixon Rd in #Etobicoke.
"We have met with every Premier & every Health Minister dating back thirty years, at least. We represent more than 750,000 people [& 500,000 healthcare organizations]
Premier Ford has never met with us and nor have the Health Ministers in this government.
It is unprecedented. They do what they can get away with."
The Ford Conservative government assured Charles McVety, president of the evangelical Canada Christian College, it would get university status regardless of the board review.
Mr. McVety, who strongly supported Mr. Ford’s 2018 bid for the PC leadership, has been called “the most publicly and vocally homophobic man in #Ontario.”
@intothewestaway@blogdiva@canadianglen@myeyesaredim@gemelliz It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” - Hubert H. Humphrey. # #SylviaJones fails this moral test. There is no office in the #FordGovernment that is not swimming in corruption
#Toronto paramedics union is sounding the alarm after the city had no available ambulances to handle a large backlog of calls on Monday, prompting the union to issue a “Code Red Alert.”
“These calls were hours old, some as much as eight hours,”
#Ontario is expanding the number of conditions for which pharmacists can write prescriptions. There are now 19 ailments where you can "skip the doctor"
"Premier #DougFord won the last #Ontario election, but he does NOT have a mandate to give away our publicly funded healthcare system to for-profit investor-owned shareholder-driven corporations."
👉 Loblaw / Maple / Shoppers is now charging patients $79.99 for a monthly membership fee. That is $959.88 per patient per year just to access healthcare.
Premier#DougFord: “This province is 1000 times better than it was five years ago”
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There are currently 47 Covid-19 outbreaks in hospitals across #Ontario.
Including hospitals in Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton, Owen Sound, Cambridge, St. Catharines, Durham, Oakville, Kingston, Welland, Niagara, Thunder Bay, Sudbury and more.
Data compiled by Sue Gowans @sueinnovates.bsky.social
Premier #DougFord: “This province is 1000 times better than it was five years ago”
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"Last night there were 70 sick kids waiting to be seen by an MD in CHEO's ER"
"Later this week, #Ottawa's COVID wastewater is likely to hit its highest pt. of 2023 since January. RSV wastewater is just beginning to rise. #SylviaJones: Let's do nothing! We can always call in Red Cross like last year"
Premier #DougFord: “This province is 1000 times better than it was five years ago”
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"I just finished an emergency shift in rural #Ontario today.
Saw an elderly patient who didn’t have a family doctor. I asked the nurses if there’s a clinic accepting patients.
RN: No, but they can put their name on the wait list.
Premier #DougFord: “This province is 1000 times better than it was five years ago”
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"I’m just one of thousands of doctors trying to get children on the interminable waiting lists at #Toronto’s Sick Kids seen sooner
…& now it’s official.
A whopping 65% of kids surgeries at that hospital are delayed beyond guidelines, affecting their growth & development."
Deputy Premier #SylviaJones is asked, as she walks into the legislature today, whether the Ford Conservative government can survive the #greenbeltscandal
Coincidentally, on the VERY SAME DAY Premier Ford agrees to "reverse" the Greenbelt land grab, Ontario's Integrity Commissioner drops all investigations into #DougFord's family receiving developers’ bribes through his daughter’s wedding. 🤔
At least one developer bought stag & doe tickets from Tony Miele, chair of the fundraising arm of the #Ontario PC Party. But Comm says NO investigation is warranted. 🤔
@Oldfartrant We knew #DougFord was a criminal, but is there not one Ontario Conservative MPP who's feeling conflicted?
No hope for the 'old-timers' such as Lecce, who learned the ropes under PM Harper's govt or #SylviaJones who started her career with John Tory, but some MPPs must be concerned about their re-election chances.
#Ontario#PublicHealth Update:
😳 #COVID-19 hospitalization and ICU bed occupancy data are as current as September 2, 2023 and WILL NOT be updated for several WEEKS due to technical updates to the reporting system that PHO receives the data from.
>Health officials across the country are grappling with how to talk to the public about things like masks and COVID-19 booster vaccines, even as case numbers rise heading into the fall and winter. After three-and-a-half pandemic years, are people willing to listen?
Our Health officials are still grappling?? After 3 years??
Is that their explanation for delaying #Covid boosters until after the kids have been in school for 2 months & we've all gathered indoors together for Thanksgiving.
Are they aware Covid is rampant in Ontario LTC's. 😡 Go visit Grandma. Unmasked, of course.
@ScifiPaul And access will not be as convenient as an in-house or mobile Public Health clinic.
Same with school kids- for those families that opt for boosters - #SylviaJones has thousands of parents making thousands of individual appts - no school clinics - you can't even get a #Covid vax at a kid's routine doctor appt