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EVENT & RELEASE: Public Hearings on Protecting & Improving Local Hospitals: Community members invited to give input
Posted: June 3, 2024
(June 3, 2024)
TORONTO — In response to more than 1,200 closures of emergency departments and other local hospital services over the last year, the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) is holding public hearings across Ontario to develop recommendations for the future of our local hospitals, including small, rural and northern community hospitals. Mid size or larger local hospitals will be included where they are at risk of closure.
The hearings are an opportunity for patients and community residents, service agencies, patient advocacy groups, concerned citizens, municipal leaders, health care professionals and others to provide their thoughts.
The results of the hearings will be collected in a report with recommendations on how to protect and improve, especially small and rural, local hospitals.
Hearings will be open to all Ontario residents. They will be held with both online (Zoom) and in-person options so everyone can attend and participate. People may submit written or spoken statements on their experiences and concerns to an expert, non-partisan panel.
Presenters making verbal submissions will be able to speak for a maximum of seven minutes. The deadline for written submissions is Thursday, June 20 at 5 p.m.
“These hearings are a chance for people in rural and northern Ontario to share their experiences and to safeguard and improve our local hospitals, especially those at risk of closures,” said Brenda Scott, chair of the Coalition’s small, rural and local hospital committee. “We want to hear what has been cut, what if anything has improved, and what is needed to improve equity, save our hospitals and improve health care for rural Ontario.”
“Decisions about our local hospitals have been removed from the local communities that have funded and relied upon them for generations,” added Natalie Mehra, executive director of the OHC. “Residents in these areas deserve the opportunity to share their concerns and influence decisions that will impact them.”
The expert panel includes:
- Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition
- Brenda Scott, Chair of Small and Rural Hospital Committee with Ontario Health Coalition and Co-chair of Grey Bruce Health Coalition
- France Gélinas, NDP Health Critic and MPP for Nickel Belt (Ontario New Democratic Party)
- Adil Shamji, Liberal Health Critic and MPP for Don Valley East (Ontario Liberal Party)
- Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario and MPP for Guelph (Green Party of Ontario)
- Graham Webb, Lawyer and Executive Director of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly
- Additional doctors, nurses, health care worker leaders, and health professionals.
Here is the list of hearings. Everyone is welcome to attend. To make a verbal presentation and give your input at the hearings, you must register here: https://bit.ly/ohc-june2024.
| Saturday, June 8 9:30-11:30 a.m. |
Welland & Niagara | Welland Civic Square, Community Room, 60 East Main Street, Welland
Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81560972577 |
| Saturday, June 8 3-4:30 p.m. |
St. Marys, Clinton, Seaforth, Stratford & Region |
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 236, Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87422681443 |
| Tuesday, June 11 9-11 a.m. |
Bracebridge & Muskokas |
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 161, Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81174304511 |
| Tuesday, June 11 1:30-3:30 p.m. |
Barrie & Simcoe County |
Barrie Public Library, Angus Ross Room, 60 Worsley St. Barrie Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82235156274 |
| Thursday June 13 12-2 p.m. |
Almonte, Arnprior, Mississippi Mills, Renfrew County & Region |
Almonte Civitan Club, 500 Almonte St. Almonte Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84185435564 |
| Friday, June 14 4-6 p.m. |
Haliburton, Minden & Region |
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 129, Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82620928242 |
| Monday, June 17 12:30-2 p.m. |
Thunder Bay & the Northwest |
Thunder Bay Public Library: Mary J.L. Black Branch Community Program Room, 901 Edward St S. Thunder Bay Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83145033983 |
| Tuesday, June 18 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. |
Chesley, Walkerton, Hanover, Durham & Region |
Chesley Community Centre Community Hall, 129 4th Ave SE. Chesley Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84939615045 |
| Tuesday, June 18 4:30-5:30 p.m. |
Mount Forest, Palmerston, Listowel, Durham & Regio |
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 134, Or join by Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82526483075 |
About the Ontario Health Coalition
Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest activist coalition and network. OHC works to protect and improve our public health care system by honouring and strengthening the principles of the Canada Health Act. OHC represents more than 500 member organizations and a network of Local Health Coalitions and individual members including: seniors’ groups; patients’ organizations; unions; nurses and health professionals’ organizations; physicians and physician organizations that support the public health system; non-profit community agencies; student groups; ethnic and cultural organizations; residents’ and family councils; retirees; poverty and equality-seeking groups, and women’s organizations. For more information, visit www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca.
Click here for printable version of release
Ontario Health Coalition
Public Consultation
on Protecting & Improving Local Hospitals
May 14, 2024
In response to unprecedented closures of emergency departments and other local hospital services, the Ontario Health Coalition is holding public hearings across Ontario to develop recommendations for the future of our local hospitals, including a focus on small and rural hospitals.
Most communities have not had any real say in what is happening to our local public hospitals, though we fund, volunteer, support and need them. These public hearings will be just like government public hearings, inviting everyone who is interested to bring a submission, written or verbal, and give their ideas and input. They will be on the record – video and written notes – and will result in a report and recommendations to protect and improve our local hospitals.
The hearings will be an opportunity for municipal leaders, community service agencies, patient advocacy groups, concerned citizens, health care professionals and workers, clinicians and others to give your input.
The hearings are open to all Ontario residents. They will be held in person and there will also be a “virtual” (online) option by Zoom for people to participate.
List of Hearings
You can attend any one you like. You will see some areas overlap and you may want to attend more than one. You do not need to be from that community to attend a hearing there.
Saturday June 8
Welland & Niagara:
9:30 am – 11:30 am, Welland Civic Square Community Room, 60 East Main Street, Welland.
Tuesday June 11
Bracebridge & South Muskoka:
9 am – 11 am, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 161, 168 Muskoka Rd. Bracebridge.
Barrie & Simcoe County:
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm, Barrie Public Library, Angus Ross Room, 60 Worsley St. Barrie.
Thursday June 13
Almonte, Arnprior, Mississippi Mills, Renfrew County & region:
12 pm – 2 pm, Almonte Civitan Club, 500 Almonte St. Almonte.
Friday June 14
Haliburton, Minden & region:
4 pm – 6 pm, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 129, 719 Mountain St. Haliburton.
Monday June 17
Thunder Bay & the Northwest:
12:30 pm – 2 pm, Mary J L Black Library, Community Program Room, 901 Edward St S. Thunder Bay.
Tuesday June 18
Chesley, Walkerton, Hanover, Durham & region:
10:30 am – 12:30 pm, Chesley Community Centre Community Hall, 129 4th Ave SE. Chesley.
Mount Forest, Palmerston, Listowel, Durham & region:
4:30 pm – 5:30 pm, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 134, 140 King St W. Mount Forest.
Deadlines & How to Make a Submission to the Expert Panel
You can make a written submission or you can give a verbal presentation to the expert panel that will attend each hearing. All submissions can be as formal or informal as you would like. We have prepared the following guide with questions to help you. You do not need to answer all questions. We will accept letters, or short statements, as well as longer, more formal submissions. What is important is that people have their chance to give meaningful input into the future of our communities’ local public hospitals.
The expert panel that will receive all written and verbal submissions is non-partisan and will include:
- Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition
- Brenda Scott, Chair of the OHC’s Save Our Hospitals Committee and the Chesley Hospital Community Support
- France Gelinas, NDP Health Critic (which means she is the Member of Provincial Parliament responsible for the Health Care portfolio for the NDP)
- Adil Shamji, Liberal Health Critic (which means he is the Member of Provincial Parliament responsible for the Health Care portfolio for the Liberal Party of Ontario)
- Graham Webb, lawyer and executive director of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly
- Several doctors, nurses and health professionals (more information TBA)
If you would like to make a verbal presentation to the expert panel, please register and we will get back to you to confirm your time slot. Please email us at info@ontariohc.ca with HEARINGS REGISTRATION in the subject line and give your name, email, phone number, and address. Verbal presentations will be 7 minutes maximum followed by a chance for the expert panel to ask questions or discuss ideas with the presenter. (This is not adversarial! We are there to hear from you. Questions will simply be to clarify information, or get your thoughts and ideas.)
If you would like to make a written submission, please email it to the Ontario Health Coalition at info@ontariohc.ca by June 20 at 5 p.m. Please include your name, email, phone and address with your submission so we can confirm with you the receipt of your submission and send you the final report and recommendations.
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Below is a short briefing note about the background and context for the public hearings followed by a consultation guide to help you write your submissions. Printable versions available at the end of the page.
Ontario Health Coalition
Backgrounder
Unprecedented Closures of Local Hospital Services
May 14, 2024
In Ontario, vital hospital services, such as emergency departments, maternity and obstetrics, outpatient laboratories and intensive care units, have been subject to repeated closures in the last three years. These closures are unprecedented and they are worsening. The duration of closures is getting longer. Multiple towns across regions are closing vital services at the same time. Public notice is often last minute. Remote communities in the north are experiencing long term closures of vital services such as labour and delivery and outpatient laboratories, and repeated emergency department closures or threats of closures. Rural communities across mid-Ontario and the south are particularly hard hit, but we are also seeing closures of vital services in the largest cities of the province. Emergency departments in particular are being repeatedly closed down in the daytime, overnight, on weekends, or for days to weeks.
The Ontario Health Coalition released a report tracking closures at the beginning of December 2023.
The rates of closure are staggering. From January 1 to November 24, 2023, there had been at least:
- 868 emergency department closures;
- 316 urgent care centre closures;
- two outpatient laboratory closures;
- eleven obstetrics unit closures;
- one ICU closure, and;
- one labour and delivery unit closure (long-term).
In total, there were 1,199 closures of vital health care services from January 1 to November 24. In other words, these services in Ontario have either temporarily or permanently closed in 1,199 instances this year so far. Consequently, 30,155 hours of care (equivalent to 3.44 years) have been lost to local communities this year so far.
A growing number of local hospitals are at risk of permanently losing services. As a result, the Ontario Health Coalition is working with local communities and coalitions across the province to conduct public hearings on saving local hospitals. The goal is to come out with a report and recommendations to save our local hospitals and their services at minimum, and also to restore stability, revitalize them, improve access, quality, equity and responsiveness of hospital care in our communities. We will then work our hardest to get the recommendations adopted and implemented to save and revitalize our local hospitals.
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Ontario Health Coalition
Public Hearings on Local Hospitals
Consultation Document
May 14, 2024
The following consultation document is a guide to help in drafting submissions for the hearings. It is not meant to be limiting – please include any and all information and recommendations you would like to submit. You are also welcome to bring an informal submission – your story about your family’s access to hospital care in your area, a letter, or point form notes. You do not need to answer all questions – this is just a guide to help guide the types of issues we are hoping to hear about.
Access to care
Provincial government decisions to cut or curtail public hospital funding have contributed to the crisis. Long term policies of underfunding hospitals in order to downsize them meant that Ontario had no surge capacity left by the beginning of the pandemic. Ontario has the fewest hospital beds per person left of any province in Canada and funds hospitals at the lowest rate in the country. Despite promises to end hallway medicine and not to cut public services, when the current government was elected it imposed a new round of austerity and real-dollar cuts to public hospitals. While the government provided extra funding during the early years of the pandemic, it cancelled COVID funding in the 2023 budget, imposing austerity again. In 2023, global budgets for hospitals in Ontario is increasing by only 0.5% while health care inflation increased by a range of 5.65% to 3.5% a real-dollar cut, pushing hospitals into deficits, forcing hospitals to downsize their services and continuing downward pressure on wages for staff that are already in crisis-levels of short supply. This policy choice is about cutting and constraining public health care funding, yes, but it is also about closing down public non-profit capacity and privatizing it. At the same time as public hospitals are facing real dollar cuts, the provincial government has vastly increased funding for for-profit clinics and hospitals, and for for-profit staffing agencies.
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Staffing
The immediate cause of local hospital services closures is most often cited as staff shortages including nurse, health professional and physician shortages. Staffing shortages that were emerging prior to the pandemic have grown over the last three years into the worst crisis anyone has seen. The staffing crisis has been compounded by public policy choices that have actively undermined staffing efforts, including wage suppression legislation (Bill 124), privatization of staffing through for-profit staffing agencies, the government’s decision to end emergency COVID funding for locums and other funding, and extremely short-term funding arrangements announced after short staffing has become critical.
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The Role of the Local Hospital
For more than a hundred years, communities across Ontario have fundraised, advocated, and built their local hospitals in an effort to establish needed services close to home. Hospitals have other local benefits also. In his autobiography, Paul Martin Sr., Minister of National Health and Welfare, who saw this program as the essential foundation for the eventual introduction of a public health insurance system in Canada, described his commitment to the creation of a National Health Grants program (1948-1971) to build community hospitals as follows:
“The grants would correct the unequal distribution of beds across the country, and particularly the dearth of hospitals in rural areas. Because poor facilities discouraged medical personnel from moving willingly to more remote parts, new, strategically placed and up-to-date hospitals would induce practitioners to go where they were needed most.” (Paul Martin Sr., A Very Public Life Vol.II, 1985)
For many communities, hospitals are central to the economic life of the community and have advanced equity in access to care.
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Local Hospital Governance
Hospitals across Ontario have not only been subjected to the most radical downsizing of any province in Canada, they have also experienced very significant loss of local decision-making and control. In a number of communities, hospitals have been amalgamated into larger hospital corporations and local boards have been decommissioned or reduced. The rationale for amalgamation was to find administrative savings but amalgamation has had a huge impact on local services also. In more recent rounds of hospital cuts and restructuring, local hospitals have lost an array of services, and now are facing the loss of core services that define them as hospitals. Some are being closed down entirely.
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Provincial Leadership and Standards
In each round of hospital cuts and restructuring, the provincial government has set processes and at least some standards for how hospitals are to make decisions regarding local services. They have been far from adequate, but they did exist. On multiple occasions, the Minister of Health intervened to stop the closure of local services, and certainly at no time has a provincial government indicated that it is not responsible for planning service levels and resourcing Ontario’s hospitals. In today’s unprecedented situation of hospital service closures, there has been a major difference. In response to the permanent closure of the Minden hospital emergency department, in existence since 1956, the Minister said it is a local decision. The failure of the provincial government to take responsibility for planning, recruiting and retaining needed health care staff, dealing with crises and setting standards for access to the most urgent of health care services is at odds with the approach of Ontario’s governments dating back at least forty years.
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Click here for background consultation document with list of hearings
Click here for printable version of backgrounder on hospital closures
