Baillie–PSW primality test

Ontario Health Coalition response to Ford government’s plans to move seniors out of hospitals & privatize hospital diagnostics and surgeries to for-profit clinics and hospitals

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, August 18, 2022

They continue to ignore entirely the critical shortage of health professionals (MRI, CT and Laboratory Technologists, Respiratory Therapists and others).

Key Points: 
  • They continue to ignore entirely the critical shortage of health professionals (MRI, CT and Laboratory Technologists, Respiratory Therapists and others).
  • Despite the governments repeated announcements, the staff have not materialized and Ontarios hospital critical and emergency care are now in an unprecedented staffing crisis.
  • In the Ontario Health Coalitions fifty years of existence, the widespread closures we are seeing this summer have never happened before.
  • The Ontario Health Coalition held 20 press conferences in the months leading into the election warning that the Ford government was planning to privatize surgeries and diagnostics.

Advocates for More Than 1 Million Health Care Workers & Patients Call for Emergency Measures Needed to Address the Health Care Staffing Crisis

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 14, 2022

Our provinces health care system is not on the brink of crisis, it is in crisis.

Key Points: 
  • Our provinces health care system is not on the brink of crisis, it is in crisis.
  • In the pandemic, the staffing crisis has become a full-blown emergency, made worse by inadequate PPE and safety protections for workers.
  • The Ontario government must urgently address the immediate emergency in staffing, begin measures to address the pre-existing severe staffing shortages, and set conditions of work that will stabilize our hospitals, long-term care & home care to provide the health care that Ontarians need.
  • We represent more than one million Ontarians on the front lines of the crisis, as health care professionals and workers, as patients, residents and families.

Ontario Health Coalition Quick Initial Analysis of the Ford Government’s New LTC Act

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, October 28, 2021

We have verified that they put the 4-hours of care into the Act as a "target" for 2025 and it expressly states that this is the direct care provided by RNs, RPNs & PSWs. This is a victory for us as we have been pushing for this -- along with our members and affiliated organizations representing residents, families and care staff -- as a priority for decades. We deserve a collective cheer. However, it is a reannouncement, it is delayed for 5 years, it is back-end loaded til the last two years, and we don't know what a "target" in law is, seems less than a requirement, and how it could ever be enforced, especially right after an election. Also please note (above) there is no actual staffing plan to get there.

Key Points: 
  • TORONTO, Oct. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ford government has gone to extreme lengths to brand this as a new LTC Act.
  • They have dropped the requirement that the government promote the delivery of long-term care by non-profit organizations.
  • We will send out more as we compare the new legislation with the previous act more closely.
  • Frankly, since really it is the existing act with some amendments, it would have been much easier to do if they had amended the act.

Coalition Responds to Long-Term Care Minister Rod Phillips’ Announcement

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 26, 2021

TORONTO, Oct. 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It has been a year-and-a-half since CBC exposed that the Ford government cancelled the annual surprise inspections of long-term care homes after it took office in 2018 and 17 months since Premier Ford promised to reinstate those comprehensive inspections. Yet today’s announcement from the Ford government’s Long-Term Care Minister Rod Phillips is again long on PR, but explicitly does not commit to finally reinstating the annual comprehensive inspections.

Key Points: 
  • Yet todays announcement from the Ford governments Long-Term Care Minister Rod Phillips is again long on PR, but explicitly does not commit to finally reinstating the annual comprehensive inspections.
  • The Ontario Health Coalition, along with other key public interest advocates with expertise in long-term care, has fought off repeated attempts by the long-term care industry to end annual surprise inspections of all long-term care homes.
  • It neither conforms to what the Long-Term Care Commission recommended, nor does it serve the public interest.
  • On the positive side, the Minister is promising 200 new long-term care inspectors with investigative skills.

“We Will Not Be Used as Cheap Labour,” PSWs, Nurses at UHN’s Hillcrest Rehab Hospital, Take Fight for Fair Wages to University Ave. With Noon Rally Thursday, July 15

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 14, 2021

UHN is avoiding the direct employment of patient rehabilitation care staff at its Hillcrest site who earn wages far below other hospital personal support workers and nurses.

Key Points: 
  • UHN is avoiding the direct employment of patient rehabilitation care staff at its Hillcrest site who earn wages far below other hospital personal support workers and nurses.
  • The hospital has also left part-time clerical without a first contract, for several years.
  • Community rally in support of fair wages and working conditions for University Health Network-Hillcrest, PSWs, RPNs and a first contract for part-time clerical.
  • Hospital workers, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, CUPE, Toronto & York Region Labour Council, CUPE, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE)