• Place an order, or for other inquiries:
  • 416-923-3567 ext. 3325
  • content@newsmediacanada.ca
  • Home
  • Why CommunityWire
  • How It Works
  • Services & Rates
✕

New report analyzes Ford government’s privatization of surgeries and diagnostic procedures

8 November 2023
Categories
  • English
  • Families, Parenting and Children
  • Government
  • Health and Safety
  • Media Advisory
  • Science and Technology
Tags
  • Ontario Council of Hospital Unions / Canadian Union of Public Employees
https://ochu.on.ca/

Media conference details impacts for Windsor residents & Ontarians

WINDSOR, ON –/COMMUNITYWIRE/– Drawing on new data from Freedom of Information requests, financial and statistical analysis, and research, a new report raises red flags about the Ford government’s privatization of our public hospitals’ core services including diagnostics and surgeries. The report, At What Cost? Ontario hospital privatization and the threat to public health care published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives lays out a cogent analysis of the negative impact of the Ford government’s plans on Ontario’s public hospitals and patients. It makes startling revelations such as the massive difference in stated government expenditures on private clinics versus the actual spending.

The report rebuts the government’s rationale for privatization by showing that sufficient funding for public hospitals can significantly improve surgical backlogs.

In Windsor, for example, local public hospital operating rooms are sitting idle much of the time while, as the report reveals, the Ford government has dramatically increased funding to for-profit clinics and hospitals. At the same time, public hospitals are facing real dollar cuts.

The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE) and the Ontario Health Coalition are joining report author Andrew Longhurst in a media conference to release the report’s findings and detail the impact of this policy change for Windsor’s hospitals. The speakers will also present recommendations to address surgical backlog and improve access to hospital services.

When: Friday, November 10, 2 p.m.

Where: Optimist Community Centre, 1075 Ypres Ave, Windsor.

Who: Andrew Longhurst, B.A. (Hons), M.A., political economist, PhD candidate, Simon Fraser University, research associate, B.C. Office, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and author of the new report. Previous publications include Failing to Deliver: The Alberta Surgical Initiative and Declining Surgical Capacity (Parkland Institute, 2023), The Concerning Rise of Corporate Medicine (2022), and he is co-author of Reducing Surgical Wait Times (2016).

Michael Hurley, president, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, CUPE since 1990 representing 40,000 Ontario hospital employees. Under his leadership, OCHU/CUPE has published numerous research reports on Ontario’s hospitals including, recently, Ontario’s Hospital Crisis: No Capacity, No Plan, No End (2023). Hurley has also co-authored multiple studies on health care workers including Sacrificed: Ontario health care workers in the time of COVID-19.

Natalie Mehra, executive director, Ontario Health Coalition, representing 400 member organizations and 750,000 Ontarians and more than 50 local chapters. She is the author of numerous reports on health policy including Private Clinics and the Threat to Public Medicare in Canada: Results of Surveys with Private Clinics and Patients (2017), and “Three Waves of Corporatization in Ontario’s Hospitals” in Corporatizing Canada: Making A Business out of Public Service (eds Jamie Brownlee et al. Between the Lines Press, May 2018).

-30 –

For more information please contact:

Zaid Noorsumar, CUPE Communications

znoorsumar@cupe.ca

647-995-9859 (cell)

Share
ENGLISH
FRANÇAIS

Submit Your News

EVENTS CALENDAR

  • MEDIA ADVISORY: CUPE locals joining rally in solidarity of locked out Black River-Matheson municipal workers
    16 November 2023
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: CUPE to protest Red Deer Catholic trustee’s meeting
    13 November 2023
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: CUPE to protest Red Deer Catholic trustee’s meeting
    12 November 2023

RECENT RELEASES

  • 124 food banks across Canada receive $247,250 from the Steelworkers Humanity Fund
    7 December 2023
  • New Data by Breast Cancer Canada Reveals Almost 3 in 4 Canadians (73%) Turn to Search Engines to Understand a Diagnosis from Their Doctor
    6 December 2023
  • Developmental service workers vow to keep fighting for programs and a fair contract as day programs close
    4 December 2023
  • Windsor-Essex County Health Unit urges provincial safeguarding of public health services amidst layoffs and funding challenges
    4 December 2023
  • Maple From Canada Will Pay Americans Back If They Add Pure Maple Syrup to Their Breakfast Orders
    4 December 2023

CATEGORIES

Be seen where the audience is looking
News Media Canada
365 Bloor Street East, 3rd Floor
Toronto, Ontario MrW 3L4

416-923-3567 or toll-free 1-877-305-2262
content@newsmediacanada.ca

© Copyright 2023 News Media Canada. All rights reserved.