Cornwall Ontario Rocked by Potential Doctor Loss and Spin Off Effects – BREAKING NEWS – February 22, 2010

Cornwall Ontario – Reports came into our office today that the Cornwall CommunityHospital in efforts to shave more off the budget may be letting go of a few doctors.    We’ll be updating this story as we confirm more facts and details.

Suffice to say that this could simply be hospital voo doo accounting at the expense of patient quality of care as was the situation with the pace maker plan where the hospital would take the program off of their books, but then force patients to travel to Ottawa at their or the public’s expense to get the exact same treatment.

In this case it could be even more grievous as local businesses that service clients of these doctors would be devastated and possibly shut down.

What do you think Cornwall?  Should this type of behavior happen to our community?  With all of the efforts to fund the new hospital should we then be penalized for not utilizing the services?    Here is the link to Cornwall Ontario City Council.  We suggest that you contact your councilors and get them on this and we’ll be interviewing them tonight as well.

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16 Comments

  1. Why do we allow this continual barrage of bully tactics. We need more funding or your Doctor will be gone, or we need more funding to repair the potholes. Streamline the administration, services and stop raises for a couple of years and I might come onside. People are losing their jobs, not getting raises or even having pay cuts, but the 3 levels of government staff still get more. This is creating 2 teir taxpayers.

  2. Author

    No Eric, this is becoming a class conflict. The middle class has been attacked leaving no buffer between the poor/working poor and the rich. That’s never a good recipe for a healthy society.

  3. Oh you know now Eric, stop the raises, then their Unions step in. Its all a vicious circle. It is about the money unfortunately for many. Especially those in Administration.

  4. And the people taking the money only want more! They don’t give a s**t about anyone else. Its their pocket that needs to feel heavy.

  5. grimalot, when do we step in and control the unions needs versus wants? What is it, about half the Ontario budget going to health care? When do we step in, when it is 90%

    Is there any truth to hospitals releasing patients early, kind of knowing they will return soon, to bring in extra money?

  6. Author

    Eric there are a myriad amount of issues that need to be tackled and reformed. Picking on the Unions is akin to politicians going after Welfare as a funding issue. Compared to Corporate Welfare like the billions tossed at the banks and auto companies it’s farcical.

    Right now we as “patients” of the system are facing more and more drug therapies prescribed by doctors that aren’t covered by Medicare/Ohip. We have to decide if we want the Federal Government or Provincial government pulling the financial strings. We need as a society decide on what we want medicare to be and what limits it should have.

    Then we need to clean house and bring accountability back to the system. We need to get more value for the money we spend rather than just pouring more and more money in and then blaming anyone to pander to voters at election time.

  7. admin, I couldn’t have said it better myself!

  8. I am not picking on the unions, but employee salary and benefits are a major cost.

    Very happy to see subjects like this being discussed, hopefully the powers that be, and the large silent majority are watching.

  9. People should have stepped in long ago on that matter Eric. Who those people are, I don’t know. But they should have stepped in on it long ago. This was messed up long before McGuinty became premier.

    But unfortunately, we need nurses, doctors, etc, on the front lines. We don’t need admin with bloated salary that don’t even take care of the front lines, sitting on the back burner and then complaining about money issues. When they’re willing to chop doctors and nurses, and beds, but not their own salaries, I think there is something ethically wrong with that.

    And yeah, Id be willing to believe some docs put patients back out in the hopes they come back in the near future for more care. Thats how they make their money anyways here, rather than billing the patient, as they do down in the US for example, they get paid by the government for however many patients come in. Why do you think they collect your health card off you every time?

  10. With talk like that admin, I would vote for you.

  11. Unions were meant to increase working conditions and protect workers; however, it seems they are more often used as leveraged extortion

  12. In rebuttle to grimalot. If you have ever talked to the people that care for the patients, wash the floors and cooked the food (which is no longer by the way). You would know that money paid for those that save lives is not as high as Domtar workers made standing watching a machine, cutting a roll of paper or Courtaulds workers that did the same. Wages are not what the fight is about. I am a nurse love my profession because I am able to be the Doctor’s eyes and ears, the advocate for my patients. When you are in hospital and happen to see our work load and the lives we are able to save we mere women and men make a difference. When a Doctor is so burnt out and needs a vacation who do you think will be the ones filling in the replacement doctor on your care and concerns. We are the patients voice. Maintenance, Housekeeping are all intricate parts of the health care field. Who do you think keep the heating and electrical systems intact and running in the face of power outages. Or Housekeeping, what will next year do with MRSA, H1N1, VRE, C-Difiicil, Can you say Pandemic??? Who do you think puts their lives at risk when you get a 300 pound, irate or psychotic, patient, that, oh by the way you are not allowed by law to hit back! Give your head a shake or get it out of the sand. We are going to loose our health care in this area and will be forced to go to OTTAWA, Kingston for care of most severe, and serious medical problems. Google LHINS BC, LHINS MANITOBA and read what we are in store if voters don’t start paying attention.

  13. Same nurse. I invite reporters to visit with patients that have been lucky enough to get to a proper room. Cut backs of beds are sending patients home early. Doctors receive the same amount no matter which patient is in the bed. Funding is from the tax dollar and transfer payments from the Federal Government that are divided up to the Provinces. There is a large waste on the part of the province with the LHINS where a number of people in each division approximately 7divisions in ONTARTIO that will add to the cost. Their salaries will be over 100,000-2,000.000 each to push healthcare institutions. I agree that an accountability is needed. That is why there is a petition out in Cornwall and in the Toronto area and will be coming to a mall near you. We need an ombudsman that will filter through all the bull crap and make politicians, administration that receive tax dollars adhere to sensibility, and spend those precious tax dollars in the right places. Those that have been in hospital need to put paper to pen and fingers to keys in this instance and let the public know what the problems are in CCH from their own view point.

  14. Jason, there are countless boards, commisions, government ministries, laws and regulations to protect workers rights now, yes unions years ago were needed and helped create better safety and working conditions, but are most of them really needed now? Honestly? BTW, I have been in a union.

  15. Child of the Lamb, I do not want to get you more worked up, however, Ontario has 14 local health networks and dish out over 20 billion dollars. That comes from a website that probably costs more to design/operate than you or I make a year.
    The 20,000,000,000 loonies cover administration to get money from your wallet, administration to send funds to each network, adminstration to send it to local hospitals, where more administration account for it.

  16. With an aging population we need more funding for health care, and not less doctors. When I read about stuff like this, I wonder who is making the decisions, and how can citizens like us have more say on issues like this? I think we need more progressive people making the decisions, instead of progressive people always reacting when cutbacks have gone too far and it’s usually too late. Also to Eric, Unions are needed more now than ever, to fight rip-offs, and for working people to defend their interests.

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