Defend Public Healthcare

A new report from the CDC ( the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) states that the    incidence, mortality, and medical care costs for C. difficile infections have reached historic highs. From 2000 to 2009, the number of hospitalized patients with any C. difficile diagnoses more than doubled, from approximately 139,000 to 336,600, and the number with a primary C. difficile diagnosis more than tripled, from 33,000 to 111,000 . The estimated number of deaths attributed to C. difficile increased from 3,000 deaths per year during 1999–2000 to 14,000 during 2006–2007 . Ontario still refuses to report hospital deaths associated with C. difficile or other superbugs.   If the number is proportionate to the US figure, about 600 deaths would be attributed to C. difficile per year.  The CDC estimates "e xcess health-care costs" of hospital-onset C. difficile at $5,042–$7,179 per case with a national annual estimated excess health-care cost of $897 million to $1.3 bi

The Ottawa Citizen reports that fee for service funding (sometimes called "pay for performance") will increase from 6% of funding in 2012-3 for Ontario's 50 largest hospitals to 20% by 2014-15.  Traditional global funding will fall from 54% to 40%.   Dr. Richard Reznick, dean of health sciences at Queen's University told the Citizen , " It (the new funding system) takes away any degree of  freedom  that an executive management team has over a budget and lets the government dive deep into the micromanagement of specific  funding  lines".  The Citizen adds, "a key concern about the  funding  changes is that hospitals will lose the ability to predict annual budgets, making it difficult for them to balance ledgers without perpetually putting beds and jobs at  risk ." Critics of this funding system note it will   open a large door for privatization. Citizen reporter Pauline Tam notes that the the government has provided little information to

The Health Authority that runs the Burnaby General Hospital is now claiming that the C. difficile outbreak had been a contributing factor in only about 30 deaths.   As noted yesterday, top doctors at the hospital had noted  that 84 patients with C. difficile had died and cited an Ontario report that suggested in outbreaks about 80% of infected patient deaths were attributable to the disease. That's quite a discrepancy.  But without reporting requirements about C. difficile deaths, who really knows for sure how many died?  That's why we need reporting requirements here in Ontario (as well as BC).    The Hospital Employees Union released a statement today saying  that B.C.'s annual hospital housekeeping audits fail to provide health care decision-makers and the public with a complete picture of the state of hospital cleanliness in the province.   HEU says that the audits fail to investigate other issues critical to hospital cleanliness and infection control such as t

Eight senior doctors at Burnaby General Hospital have raised concerns about infection control at the hospital, after 473 patients were seriously infected with C. difficile. Eighty-four of those patients died. The eight doctors (including 6 department heads) wrote that " current CDAD [C. difficile]  infection control  management at Burnaby  Hospital... is a serious hazard to the patient population. ... Such is the degree of the CDAD  problem  and the ineffectual response to it, that we believe it could objectively be considered medical negligence. " The doctors made 16 recommendations to resolve the problem, including the immediate institution of enhanced cleaning within  hospital  units.  The doctors point to a lack of enhanced cleaning of high C.difficile medical units despite a recommendation from the infection control  committee following the late-2011 outbreaks. Hospital Employees Union spokesperson Margi Blamey said  a focus needs to be put on resources for cle