International Ontario Considering Privatization to Deal with ER Crisis

[rikibobby]

They don't even use all of the operating rooms. Plenty of them are empty and surgeons aren't working since the government will only fund so many in a given period of time.

The problem generally isn't facilities. It's budget.

Broke my arm in sudbury in 2017 and had surgery 1 week after break. I was bitter about the wait, but they wanted the swelling to reduce anyway, so i let it go. I went for a post-surgery follow-up a couple of weeks after surgery and was going to make a snarky comment about the wait, but my wife happened to call the surgeon the night before for a badly broken ankle she saw in her emerge and she tried to call him (on-call) and didn't get him. She mentioned it in my appointment and he asked what time she called. It was 10:45pm and he said he was still in surgery. My appointment was the following morning at 8am. That dude was overworked. Surgeries steady in suds.

 

[Bojka]

Broke my arm in sudbury in 2017 and had surgery 1 week after break. I was bitter about the wait, but they wanted the swelling to reduce anyway, so i let it go. I went for a post-surgery follow-up a couple of weeks after surgery and was going to make a snarky comment about the wait, but my wife happened to call the surgeon the night before for a badly broken ankle she saw in her emerge and she tried to call him (on-call) and didn't get him. She mentioned it in my appointment and he asked what time she called. It was 10:45pm and he said he was still in surgery. My appointment was the following morning at 8am. That dude was overworked. Surgeries steady in suds.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...new-specialist-doctors-cant-find-a-job-after/

"Nearly one in five new specialist doctors can’t find a job after certification, survey shows

Nineteen per cent of specialists who passed their certification exams in 2017 reported being unable to find a job right away, with neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and orthopedic surgeons the likeliest to be unemployed, according to the results of a survey released on Wednesday.

For Canadian patients who sometimes wait months or years for a coveted specialist appointment, it is difficult to understand why the health-care system is turning away eager new doctors who have more than a decade of taxpayer-supported education and training under their belts.

While doctors’ personal preferences about where to work are part of the explanation, the Royal College and other specialist leaders blame the disconnect on a shortage of public funding for necessities such as operating-room time, recovery beds and nursing support.

Approximately 30 per cent of Canadians who needed a hip or knee replacement waited six months or more for the procedure in 2018, not including the time they waited to see a specialist in the first place. In Nova Scotia, where Dr. Glazebrook practices and Dr. Dillman would like to, more than 50 per cent of patients waited longer than the national goal of six months for a new hip or knee.

“We have unemployed orthopedic surgeons who are dying to meet this need,” Dr. Glazebrook said. “The government can’t afford it.”"

 

[flashNsmash]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...new-specialist-doctors-cant-find-a-job-after/

While doctors’ personal preferences about where to work are part of the explanation, the Royal College and other specialist leaders blame the disconnect on a shortage of public funding for necessities such as operating-room time, recovery beds and nursing support.

Approximately 30 per cent of Canadians who needed a hip or knee replacement waited six months or more for the procedure in 2018, not including the time they waited to see a specialist in the first place. In Nova Scotia, where Dr. Glazebrook practices and Dr. Dillman would like to, more than 50 per cent of patients waited longer than the national goal of six months for a new hip or knee.

“We have unemployed orthopedic surgeons who are dying to meet this need,” Dr. Glazebrook said. “The government can’t afford it.”"

as the public fundee-in-chief once said, 'they're asking for more than we're able to pay'

 

[irish_thug]

I can’t tell if you are serious or joking. I live in Toronto, so have always had access to speedy healthcare for the most part. I don’t think I have been to a hospital since Doug has been premier though.

Speedy healthcare in Toronto? At which hospital?

 

[flashNsmash]

bahahaha ol' dougie might need a hospital trip himself

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-swallows-bee-1.6549613

fuck rushdie this is the biggest story in news right now

 

[flashNsmash]

gulps down a bee and just goes about his business, what a hardman

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Speedy healthcare in Toronto? At which hospital?

Welcome back man. Or may I just haven’t seen you around.

Toronto east is walking distance for me. I haven’t been to the hospital since Covid, so I’m sure it’s worse.
I used to live closer downtown and frequented sick kids for the kids. It was also fast.

 

[irish_thug]

Welcome back man. Or may I just haven’t seen you around.

Toronto east is walking distance for me. I haven’t been to the hospital since Covid, so I’m sure it’s worse.
I used to live closer downtown and frequented sick kids for the kids. It was also fast.

Not around as frequently as I used to be.

I spent six hours waiting for stitches at Toronto East, needed to change the dressing like 5 times. One woman waiting commented that I was going to bleed to death before being seen.

My daughter was born there and was a code pink, so nothing but love for their natal unit.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Not around as frequently as I used to be.

I spent six hours waiting for stitches at Toronto East, needed to change the dressing like 5 times. One woman waiting commented that I was going to bleed to death before being seen.

My daughter was born there and was a code pink, so nothing but love for their natal unit.

They have a fast track at Toronto east since I’ve lived in the area close to 20 years. Stitches, X-rays, etc, move pretty quick. Again, not sure since Covid. I broke my finger playing with my dog. That was a Saturday. Got an X-ray same day and an appointment for Monday at the fracture clinic. Needed surgery for tendon repair and was in for surgery that Thursday. For me that was good service.

 

[irish_thug]

They have a fast track at Toronto east since I’ve lived in the area close to 20 years. Stitches, X-rays, etc, move pretty quick. Again, not sure since Covid. I broke my finger playing with my dog. That was a Saturday. Got an X-ray same day and an appointment for Monday at the fracture clinic. Needed surgery for tendon repair and was in for surgery that Thursday. For me that was good service.

My experiences there are from quite some time ago. Glad things have improved. Not surprised about Sick Kids, that place is world class.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

I am not convinced anyone had to wait 3 days to get xray results for a broken leg.

When I blew out my knee, I had an xray and CT done that day. Sure, I was at the hospital for ~6 hours, but I left with the thousands of dollars it would cost to get xrays and an MRI in the USA in my pocket.

My step-mother's sister has cancer of the endocrine system and has tumors on her liver. After a lengthy screening process, she qualified for a rare specialized treatment that was not available in our Province. She had to cover her travel expenses but after 4 treatments she owed Candian Healthcare nothing.

My uncle had colon cancer that required many treatments. He received immediate care which cost him nothing.

My Dad tore his rotator cuff. It took him a number of months to see the surgeon, partially due to the timing of his injury - right as the first wave of covid hit - but he was in no pain and was able to live a mostly normal life. They operated to reattach and repair the damage at 0 cost to him.

People bitch and moan about the Canadian Healthcare system because it takes them months to see a specialist due to relatively minor injuries. This is especially true for people living in remote areas. Meanwhile, everyone is seen, everyone is treated, the most important cases take priority, and no one goes bankrupt.

I'm not saying there aren't problems with our system, because there are many, but hearing stories about waiting 3 days to get results for a broken leg reaches the limits of my credulity.

I read the current President of the USA nearly had to mortgage his house in order to pay for his son's cancer treatment.

That wouldn't happen in Canada.

I herniated my L5-S1 when I was 18. I went to the emergency room because I thought I broke my back or something. They gave me some T3s and booked my MRI appointment for 6 months later.

6 months goes by and I get my MRI done. They tell me I have to wait another 6 months to get the results. Literally an entire year from my injury to get my results to verify I'm injured.

In that time I would have rather travelled to the states and gotten the MRI done out of pocket to get my results so I can understand what I was dealing with.

 

[ShadBo]

I herniated my L5-S1 when I was 18. I went to the emergency room because I thought I broke my back or something. They gave me some T3s and booked my MRI appointment for 6 months later.

6 months goes by and I get my MRI done. They tell me I have to wait another 6 months to get the results. Literally an entire year from my injury to get my results to verify I'm injured.

In that time I would have rather travelled to the states and gotten the MRI done out of pocket to get my results so I can understand what I was dealing with.

6 months to get the results from an MRI?

Do you have a family doctor?

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

6 months to get the results from an MRI?

Do you have a family doctor?

Yes 6 months. And yes I have a family doctor.

This isn't anything out of the ordinary for our system. Canada is known for ridiculous wait times for anything health related.

My 92 year old grand father was admitted to the emergency room on the advice of his physician for heart related issues. He waited in triage for 17 hours before getting a bed.
Any specialist I've been ordered to see has taken months for the visits to occur.

 

[ShadBo]

Yes 6 months. And yes I have a family doctor.

This isn't anything out of the ordinary for our system. Canada is known for ridiculous wait times for anything health related.

My 92 year old grand father was admitted to the emergency room on the advice of his physician for heart related issues. He waited in triage for 17 hours before getting a bed.
Any specialist I've been ordered to see has taken months for the visits to occur.

I'm not going to call you a liar, but I'm also not convinced you're being honest.

If it took your family doctor 6 months to get your MRI results I think you should switch doctors.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

I'm not going to call you a liar, but I'm also not convinced you're being honest.

If it took your family doctor 6 months to get your MRI results I think you should switch doctors.

How long does it take to get an MRI in Canada 2021?
10.2 weeks
For diagnostic technology, where long wait times can lead to poorer health outcomes, in 2021 Canadians could expect to wait 10.2 weeks for an MRI, 5.2 weeks for a CT scan and 3.6 weeks for an ultrasound. For CT scans, four provinces (including Ontario) had a wait time of four weeks—shorter than other provinces.Apr 27, 2022

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/long-wait-times-for-health-care-predated-pandemic

Our results document that most MRI facilities in Canada have a substantial wait list problem, with some centres reporting wait times of up to one month for urgent scans and up to several years for non-urgent scans.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar...document that most,years for non-urgent scans.

The audit found while the average wait time for an MRI scan in the province was 23 weeks, 45 per cent of a compiled list of people deemed influential were scanned within a day or two weeks. One-third of those on the list received a scan within a day.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4076439

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

If it took your family doctor 6 months to get your MRI results I think you should switch doctors.

The fact that you think you can so seamlessly switch doctors coupled with your inability to grasp the idea of these long wait times is testament to how disconnected you are to the reality of our health care system.

You're either being willfully obtuse or genuinely have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[ShadBo]

The fact that you think you can so seamlessly switch doctors coupled with your inability to grasp the idea of these long wait times is testament to how disconnected you are to the reality of our health care system.

Your either being willfully obtuse or genuinely have no idea what you are talking about.

Which one of the links that you posted above supports your claim that it took 6 months to receive diagnostic imaging results?

I didn't say changing doctors would be seamless. We currently have a critical shortage of family doctors where I am. My wife's family doctor had to suddenly close her practice and retire, resulting in a difficult and frustrating process of trying to find another one. My family doctor's secretary told me that she gets 50 calls a week from people looking for a family doctor. He's not accepting a single new patient at this time because he has his plate full. He wasn't even willing to take on my wife.

She did find a doctor though.
Until she did, she had no issues getting any of her prescriptions filled using our 3 digit health line service.

At some point, if you're not getting what you need from your current doctor, IE: they passively wait 6 months for results, you're going to have to decide whether or not that's acceptable.

Like all things, you have to be your own advocate and do your own leg work. That means taking an active role in your own healthcare, as inconvenient as it may be.

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

Which one of the links that you posted above supports your claim that it took 6 months to receive diagnostic imaging results?

I didn't say changing doctors would be seamless. We currently have a critical shortage of family doctors where I am. My wife's family doctor had to suddenly close her practice and retire, resulting in a difficult and frustrating process of trying to find another one. My family doctor's secretary told me that she gets 50 calls a week from people looking for a family doctor. He's not accepting a single new patient at this time because he has his plate full. He wasn't even willing to take on my wife.

She did find a doctor though.
Until she did, she had no issues getting any of her prescriptions filled using our 3 digit health line service.

At some point, if you're not getting what you need from your current doctor, IE: they passively wait 6 months for results, you're going to have to decide whether or not that's acceptable.

Like all things, you have to be your own advocate and do your own leg work. That means taking an active role in your own healthcare, as inconvenient as it may be.

My own experience is an admission that it took 6 months (a full calendar year from my injury) to receive my results. The rest of the links were a way to show case that wait times are absurdly long for MRI scans and to put your mind at ease that I wasn't fabricating some story to make it seem worse than it really is. Yes People wait a long fucking time for medical services in Ontario and it manifests itself in many different ways. People wait over a year sometimes to secure an appointment but you linger on when you receive the results as if it makes a difference after a year.

Like all things, you have to be your own advocate and do your own leg work. That means taking an active role in your own healthcare, as inconvenient as it may be.

I agree. This is why I would rather pay for my own services out of pocket than rely on our system where you have to fight tooth and nail for diagnostics.

 

[regmma123]

Live in Ontario. Can confirm that our system is broken. Hours long wait in hospitals. Shit quality. Wait months to see specialists. So fucking slow.

My relatives in the states ask "why do you have to wait 3 days to get x ray results to know if you have a broken leg. Isn't that urgent?"

I'm amazed Americans can go to a hospital and in the same day get an x ray, MRI and get the results same day. Holy fuck.

Not necessarily. Had a head MRI at a very reputable hospital recently that took days to get results, and they didn't come on time. Had to call and ask about them (have employer provided coverage btw that I pay big copays for, not free county hospital stuff here )

 

[Dan O]

If someone’s wealth increases dramatically while in public office, and they didn’t invent a better lightbulb, they should be drug out into the street and beaten. It’s that simple