I know there is a story here, but what story
Is it the 30 lost jobs, is it the move to force people to pay for programmes previously covered by in-hospital visits, is it the apparent non-transparency of the consultation process is it the seemingly non-randomness of the selection of the CAP panelists, is it the move to shitf beds in the Alternative Care Sector and moving them to no-existent programmes or is it just one of each of those items?
In a week where the incumbent MP boasts about creating jobs but can't prove it the news that 30 high paying jobs are going to be lost is pitiful. But what is more pitiful is the Northumberland Hills Hospitalc cutting 34 beds from the active care side of hospital operations. So we didn't lose the Palliative Care beds, that will make the donors happy, but cut active care beds instead. In the end the donors will wish that the Palliative Care beds would have gone as the level of care has now been hit.
The total BS of it is that the beds in community programmes, that will take over from the beds in the hospital, do not exist yet, so reading between the lines, i.e. don't cut anything until the community beds are there, will mean that no money is going to saved just yet. The only cost-cutting measure that has taken place is to shut down the Diabetes Clinic.
If the hospital administration was serious about saving money and getting everybody to pull together it would look seriously at the administration ratio of admin wages to operating departments wages and cut out a few admin jobs. After all when the layoffs and bedcuts take place the admin ratio has gone up not down.
Still all is not lost, in one of the infamous "Yes Minister" episodes there was the tale of the fully finctioning hospital that had no patients. "We have won all kinds of awards Minister, we are very efficient!" Perhaps NHH will go that way to demonstrate working within a budget by not having pesky patients to force the costs up.
5 comments:
When I read the report of the advisory committee I was alarmed by a couple of things.
First, while it is claimed the members were chosen with geographic, age, and other characteristics to reflect the population of the catchment area, it seemed most of them shared a common predilection to possessing a business oriented approach to the issues at hand.
When it comes to human issues, a business oriented approach is not always the best one.
My worry was increased when I read that nuclear medicine was to be encouraged because it was profitable. Say what?
Shouldn't they be working to retain services that people need, rather than services that net the hospital more bucks?
With that kind of thinking, could we see our hospital turned into a cosmetic surgery spa? That would generate more dollars than the more mundane hospital procedures like surgery and birthing and dying, with everything in between.
The people will just have to adjust their expectations. I'm sure they can hire a few more consultants to achieve that goal too.
I am confident that if the Province abolished the stupid money sucking LHIN machines then hospitals could afford to continue being hospitals.
The fundamental thing people seem to forget about the hospital is that as a hospital it's a pretty good airport.
The 'completion' phase of the hospital is underway. When it was built the purpose was straightforward but not openly discussed: Development of Cobourg as a retirement community needed an anchor, much in the same way a mall needs one or two big stores to draw business for all the other little stores. In terms of development -waterfront condos, New Urbanism houses, Wal-Mart, Home Depot et cetera- the anchor that would draw people, retirees mostly, from Toronto -was a hospital. A hospital is first and formost on the list of must haves when oldsters leave the city for a more pastoral landscape. And that's why the hospital was built in the first place; to facilitate development.
Now that the oldsters are here and aren't likely to move, it's time to begin the completion phase of the hospital. By the time the completion phase is completed what will remain is a new, improved and expanded heliport with radar and free parking. Hospital? You'll be headed by air to Lindsay, Peterborough or Rochester if you really need a hospital.
None of this should come as any surprise. Towns like Cobourg have been losing their hospitals for years. As a matter of fact, I seem to recall we once had one right here in Port Hope not so long ago....
Ben, your comments are surgical.
The " Cobourg " hospital serves a lot more than just Cobourg. Back to your cloister Merklin !
It must take real balls to make an anonymous negative comment to someone from Port Hope on the issue of the grand Cobourg hospital.
Port Hopers lost their hospital, have they lost their right to an opinion too?
Classy, anonymous, real classy.
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