Hansard - April 11/2016
Health care funding
Mr. Patrick Brown: My question is for
the Premier. While this government has been busy attending secret $6,000
fundraising dinners, I’ve been touring hospitals and meeting with front-line
workers across this province. Just this past weekend, I was in Windsor. I was
told first-hand—
Mr. Patrick
Brown: I was told first-hand the impact of this government’s
mismanagement on health care in Windsor: 120 nurses are gone because of this
government, and $20 million cut to Windsor Regional because of this
government. The budget promised one thing, but what we’re seeing in
reality is very, very different.
I can tell you: I didn’t charge a
single red cent to meet with nurses in Windsor. I wanted to hear their concerns;
I wanted to hear their stories.
My question for the Premier: Will the Premier meet with the nurses
in Windsor without charging them $6,000 a plate?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I think that
the Leader of the Opposition is fully aware that I meet with people all over the
province—consistently, Mr. Speaker—from every sector.
We’re committed, on health care, to
making sure that people in Ontario have the right care, that they have it in a
timely way and that they have it in the right place. To that end, funding for
Windsor hospitals has increased by $124 million. That’s a 47% increase during
our tenure as government. In fact, just this fiscal year, $7 million was
provided to help Windsor Regional Hospital with budget pressures and to help the
transition process from a registered-nurse model to a registered-practical-nurse
model.
That is work that is going on in other
parts of the province. The
focus of those funds was to ensure that the reduction of FTEs occurred through
attrition and retirement and not through layoffs. So it’s a different
model. There is a transition. There is, overall in health care, a transition
going on. We are working with the health care sector in every community across
the province.
Mr.
Patrick Brown: Back to the Premier: Those are talking points to justify a
$20-million cut to Windsor Regional Hospital. But I can tell you, it’s not just
Windsor. Last month, St. Joseph’s health centre in London was forced to
cut 49 full-time positions and 12 transitional care beds. Just last month,
LifeLabs announced they were closing 15 patient service centres. The CEO of
LifeLabs said they had to close the centres because the demand for testing had
increased but funding had not.
Patients will struggle to get the
testing they need done. The government has created this situation, forcing
communities to close clinics and doctors’ offices; they have fired nurses and
front-line health care workers.
So my question is: Now that the
Premier has demanded that the Minister of Health not have private, high-level
fundraising dinners, will he now
have the time to support physicians and nurses and stop closing labs?
Hon.
Kathleen O. Wynne: Once again, let me just reinforce that the way we
make policy decisions on this side of the House has nothing to do with political
donations, even though the innuendo on the other side of the House would suggest
that. It’s simply false.
Hon.
Kathleen O. Wynne: What the Leader of the Opposition does not talk
about is the rehiring of nurses. He doesn’t talk about what’s happening in one
part of the sector. We’ve
increased the percentage of nurses working full-time by 13.9% in our term of
government—since 2003. There are now 26,300 more nurses working in nursing in
Ontario since we took office. There has been a massive influx of nurses into the
system, and we are working with communities around the province to make sure
that service is delivered adequately.
Mr.
Patrick Brown: Back to the Premier: Once again, if the Premier wasn’t
petrified of a public inquiry, she would welcome this sunshine, this spotlight,
on this topic.
We all know that doctors have been
without a contract for two years. During that time, Liberals have unilaterally
cut $815 million from physicians. Further, the Minister of Health won’t even
meet with physicians. So my question is: Is it because the doctors didn’t ante
up for the Liberal fundraising calls? How many $6,000 dinners will it take for
the Premier and the Minister of Health to actually meet with our physicians in
the province of Ontario?
Hon.
Kathleen O. Wynne: The Minister of Health is very much engaged with the
OMA. We would like very much to have an opportunity to sit down at the table and
work out an arrangement with them.
The Leader of the Opposition may not
remember, but this is the highest-paid group of physicians in the country. They
have every right to earn a good wage, but the reality is that we need that
opportunity to sit down with them. We’re open to that. We want to work this out,
and the Minister of Health is engaged with them on a regular basis to try to get
that opportunity to have the conversation with them.
Hospital funding
Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong: My question
is to the Premier. Hospitals in London are grappling with another year of deep
cuts under this Liberal government. In the past two weeks, we’ve learned that
St. Joseph’s and London Health
Sciences are both cutting the equivalent of 60 full-time positions. Budgets for
supplies are being cut, and 12 crucial transitional care beds will be shut down
this October.
People in my community want to know:
Why is this Premier forcing hospitals in London to cut patient care, lay off
front-line staff and shut down even more beds?
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne: I know that
the member opposite, when she is in conversation with constituents, will remind the constituents that the budget
actually puts $1 billion more into health care in this province, including $345
million for hospital funding.
In terms of the number of nurses in
this province, in terms of the number of doctors, there have been thousands more
nurses and doctors in this province in our term of government: 26,300 more
nurses in this province as a result of our policies.
We will continue to support the
health care system. We will continue to work with individual health care systems
and hospitals around the province, including in London, and make sure that
people get the health care that they need in a timely manner.
Ms. Teresa
J. Armstrong: When I’m speaking to constituents, they’re reminding me
about the health care policies that this Liberal government is causing to fail
the services in health care.
Again to the Premier: Hospitals in London have revealed just
how deeply this Liberal government is cutting health care. St. Joseph’s has seen
effectively a $36.5-million cut to its total budget over the past four years.
London Health Sciences says that the year 2016-17 marks the fifth straight year
that funding will not keep up with rising costs. And we all know who pays
the price for these cuts. It’s patients who wait longer for care they need; it’s
families who are forced to deal with more worry and more stress; and it’s the
front-line health care workers who don’t deserve a pink slip from this
government.
How can this Premier once again slash
funding to hospitals in London and expect patient health care not to suffer?
Hon.
Kathleen O. Wynne: We recognized in this budget that there was a need
to increase funding to hospitals. That’s why there’s a $345-million increase to
hospitals in the province.
I had talked with CEOs of hospitals.
The Minister of Health and Long-Term Care had talked with hospital CEOs. We
understood that there needed to be an increase. That’s why there’s $1 billion more in
health care overall and $345 million for hospitals.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare—that’s the
Hamilton St. Joseph’s Healthcare—system received $395 million in 2015-16 in base
funding, and that’s a 48% increase since 2003. So over that period of time, a
48% increase, and that’s just one hospital across the province. There have been
increases, and $345 million in this year’s budget.
