Tag Archives: Health Minister Deb Matthews

08.27.11
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STMHA says policy not self righteous, it’s about playing hockey

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Last week’s letter from Jennifer Swales read here charging rule changes adopted by St. Thomas Minor Hockey Association smack of discrimination prompted a flurry of emotional letters to the editor, phone calls and emails.

In summary, under the new rules, if a child has received a subsidy for house league hockey, they cannot try out or play on a travel team.

“Individuals who made this rule based on ‘financial concerns’ for the parents smack of righteousness and assumptions and we all know what that does,” Swales charged.

In response to her email of Aug. 16, STMHA president Chris Smith offered the following rebuttal.

“Our Board of Directors are not ignorant to the economic landscape of our city, nor are we trying to ostracize any families, however you must understand our economic pressures,” stressed Smith.
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05.18.11
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Ontario needs to regulate cost of accessing personal health records

From OPSEU Diablogue. Full post here

Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has called upon the province to regulate the amount doctors and other health care providers can charge to provide patients with copies of their health records.

Cavoukian writes that “access to one’s own records of personal information is a cornerstone of fair information practices and privacy legislation. In the context of health care, the right of access enables individuals to determine what shall or shall not be done with their own bodies, to exercise control over the collection, use or disclosure of their own personal health information, and to require the correction or amendment of that information.”
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04.23.11
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Pharmacist takes up challenge and foregoes flattery

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You had to know this would be coming. One week ago, City Scope documented a totally unsubstantiated claim by Ontario health minister Deb Matthews, tossed out at last Saturday’s liberal nomination meeting where Ald. Lori Baldwin-Sands was acclaimed, that PC leader Tim Hudak is running pharmacists as candidates across the province.

An obvious jab at St. Thomas pharmacist Jeff Yurek, sporting the Tory banner in Elgin-Middlesex-London for the fall provincial vote. And a claim Matthews is unlikely to repeat beyond a room full of her supporters.

In a letter to the T-J, (read full letter here ) Yurek writes, “While I am flattered Ms. Matthews would think that I was hand selected by the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, Tim Hudak, her statement is false.

“Through a democratic process, I was elected from a field of five candidates by members of the Elgin-Middlesex-London riding association.
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04.20.11
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Hospitals warned to ‘cleanse’ files before 2012

The chances of ever uncovering the backroom wheeling and dealing that led up to Paul Collins’ momentary lapse into retirement before re-appearing on the scene last summer in his capacity as CEO at St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital now appear extremely remote at best as per this posting from the
OPSEU blog. . . .

There are further signs that by the time hospitals are subject to Freedom of Information legislation in 2012, what’s left to get won’t be worth the effort.

QMI Agency reports that hospitals are being warned to “cleanse” their files of anything that might embarrass them before the public gets the right to access it come January 2012.

The warnings come from Toronto-based law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt. Many hospitals across Ontarioare on OH&H’s client list.

“I was astounded at the language,” Ann Cavoukian,Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, told the newspaper. “Just using the word ‘cleansing’ is highly inappropriate. It suggests shredding, eliminating, hiding – getting rid of material before the end of the year.”

Health Minister Deb Matthews said she expects hospitals to “embrace the spirit” of the legislation.

However, while this is taking place, the province itself has slipped an amendment into the budget bill that will exclude hospitals form divulging “information provided to, or records prepared by, a hospital committee for the purposes of evaluating the quality of health care and directly related programs and services provided by the hospital.”

04.19.11
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PC candidate Jeff Yurek responds to Health Minister Deb Matthews

At the nomination meeting where Ald. Lori Baldwin-Sands was acclaimed provincial Liberal candidate for Elgin-Middlesex-London, MPP Deb Matthews made a rather outlandish claim.

She suggested PC leader Tim Hudak has a true allegiance to ‘Big Pharma’ in Ontario and that’s why he’s running pharmacists as candidates across the province, a reference to popular St. Thomas pharmacist Jeff Yurek, who recently won the provincial PC nomination for EML. Read full story here.

Via a letter to the editor, Yurek responds to Matthews . . .

In response to the allegations made by the Minister of Health, Deb Matthews, it is necessary to clarify her misstatements.
While I am flattered Ms. Matthews would think that I was hand selected by the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, Tim Hudak, her statement is false.

Through a democratic process, I was elected from a field of five candidates by the members of the Elgin-Middlesex-London riding association for the provincial Progressive Conservative Party. Mr. Hudak played no role in the nomination process.

I was elected by the party membership because of their confidence in my experience and abilities. I am a husband, a father, a business owner and a healthcare professional who understands and can bring an educated and experienced point of view to Queen’s Park.

It is important to focus on the real issues in healthcare.

Dalton McGuinty has wasted over one billion dollars on the E-Health scandal and one of the top bureaucrats during the scandal was paid $763,000 in 2010, even though he quit in 2009. The bureaucracy of the Local Health Integration Networks consumes resources that would be better used for frontline healthcare.

A Tim Hudak Progressive Conservative government will put an end to E-Health waste, scrap the LHINs and reinvest the money into frontline healthcare.

Jeff Yurek
Progressive Conservative Candidate
Elgin-Middlesex-London

04.04.11
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Still waiting – Ontario Health Coalition releases home care report

From opseudiablogue | April 4, 2011

Home care has to be the most tiered health care service in Ontario. Consider that many front line care providers are not on salary, but operating as independent contractors to agencies. The agencies in turn are contracted by the Community Care Access Centres. The Community Care Access Centres sign accountability agreements with the Local Health Integration Networks, which in turn report to the Ministry of Health.

That’s a lot of layers of bureaucracy to facilitate a home care visit.

The Ontario Health Coalition released a new home care report April 4th that suggests about 30 per cent of home care costs are administrative. That may be very conservative.
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02.18.11
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Walk The Talk on Mental Health

opseudiablogue | February 18, 2011 at 2:28 pm | http://wp.me/pLpCD-dH

LONDON – Words are not enough. OPSEU members in London and St. Thomas are calling upon the community to help “walk the talk on mental health” in front of Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) offices on Wednesday, March 9 beginning at 1 pm.

The demonstration follows more cuts this winter at Regional Mental Health – London and St. Thomas (RMHC) as well as in other communities across Ontario.

“For the past two and a half years the government has been working on a 10-year strategy for mental health,” says Kim McDowell, President of OPSEU Local 152 (RMHC). “While they have been talking about improving the system, the reality on the ground has been one of program closures and layoffs.”

The union is concerned that residents needing mental health care will have no place to go after the regional center divests beds to other communities and downsizes in 2014.

Protesters are asked to gather in front of the Local Health Integration Network offices at 201 Queens Ave in London. After a brief rally there, the protest will march to Health Minister Deb Matthews’ constituency office at 242 Picadilly St.

Want to help? Contact Kim McDowell at 519-765-8660.

10.20.10
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McGuinty Government Proposes New Rules, Higher Standards For Broader Public Sector

This will impact St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital, one of 14 Ontario hospitals identified as hiring lobbyists to obtain increased government funding.

From the Province of Ontario newsroom site:

“Using taxpayer dollars to hire an external lobbyist to ask for more taxpayer dollars is a practice that has gone on for too long – it’s unacceptable and it’s over. We have to focus our investments on front-line health care and public programs. It’s what the public expects and deserves.”

– Deb Matthews
Minister of Health and Long Term Care

Ontario is proposing strict new rules that would prevent organizations funded with taxpayer dollars from using public funds to hire external lobbyists to ask for more funding.

The proposed Broader Public Sector Accountability Act would, if passed, bring in new rules and higher accountability standards for hospitals, Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and the broader public sector around the use of external lobbyists, consultants and expenses. Hospital and LHIN executives could see reductions in pay, should they fail to comply with the requirements under the proposed Act.
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10.05.10
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The Dalton McGuinty government says it’s showing lobbyists the door.

St. Thomas-Elgin General Hospital was one of 14 hospitals which used taxpayer dollars to hire a lobbyist to get more money from the government.

Here’s more on the practice from the Toronto Sun …

Health Minister Deb Matthews said Tuesday she will introduce legislation to ban public institutions such as hospitals and universities from using tax dollars to hire consultants who lobby government for more tax dollars.

“There was a day when that’s how business got done,” she said. “We can’t afford that any more.”

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath identified 14 hospitals and nine universities and colleges that retained private lobbyists to approach the government.

“These public dollars should be going into front line services,” Horwath said.
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