Another in a weekly series of brief snippets of health care stories that bemused, intrigued and otherwise beguiled me over the past week along with my random thoughts on the matter.
Item: Ontario nurses are leaving the profession in droves. This article from the Seeker states: “Ontario ranked third, with 35.1 young nurses leaving for every 100 entering in 2022. This is 83 per cent higher than in 2013.” The overall numbers for Canada aren’t pretty either, with an expected shortage of over 115,000 nurses by 2030.
My thoughts: Who can blame them? Most of the nurses that I work with are really excellent at their jobs and try their best. But, much like with family physicians, they are now relegated to data entry clerks for EMRs that require a PhD in software programming to understand, bear the brunt of patients frustrations and suffer high rates of workplace violence. Yet more reason to implement drastic health care reform now.
Item: The Ontario Federation of Labour met in Sudbury, and have come out with some pretty strong statements about the state of health care in the north. The article is damning with condemnations just how broken our health care system is in Ontario.
My thoughts: I get that Sudbury is a union town and not really a Conservative stronghold, so there is bound to be criticism of the Conservative government there. I also get all the talk about potential early elections and strong results in by-elections pointing to another victory for Ford. But if meaningful steps to fix health care aren’t taken now, this issue is going to haunt the Conservatives in the next election (whenever that is).
Item: The National Post ran a harrowing account about Christine Tizzard and how she paid almost $100,000 US for out of country care when our health system failed her. CBC reported on a woman who likely will have to wait three years to have her surgery.
My thoughts: When I wrote that if I were to get a serious illness, I would go to Turkiye for my health care needs, I was met with blowback. Some of that was because I consult for a medical tourism firm (I did disclose that in the blog and am quite open about it). Some of that was because I seemed to be taking a somewhat “un-Canadian” stance on health care. But the more of these stories that come out, the more I’m convinced I’ve made the right decision.
Item: Dr. Michelle Cohen writes about the letters that the Ontario Ministry of Health sent to (by my rough count) several hundred family physicians last week. They were in 75 group practices called Family Health Organizations (FHOs). While it’s true I wrote about this last week as well, she did a much better job and I encourage you to read her blog.
My thoughts: She’s a great writer.
Item: The Annals of Internal Medicine published an article showing significant benefits to intermittent fasting (or time restricted eating) for health.
My thoughts: I’m a big fan of intermittent fasting. I think it’s the simplest and most straightforward lifestyle change to make and has huge benefits.
Item: A new Angus Reid poll suggests the current Conservative government increased its potential votes share despite it getting terrible ratings on government performance. In particular, 80% of those polled thought they were doing a terrible job on health care. The numbers on housing and affordable living were even worse.
My thoughts: As mentioned above, just because it looks like another Conservative win, doesn’t mean it will be. There is an awful lot of dissatisfaction out there. Several months or a year are an eternity in politics. I wouldn’t be so sure of the results of the next election without meaningful improvement in those numbers.
Item: New Covid-19 vaccines are available at pharmacies. But there is rather a lot of concern about “vaccine fatigue” and also around the fact that messaging around these vaccines has been poor.
My thoughts: Get vaccinated. Get your flu shot as well. And if you are in a high risk group – get your RSV vaccine as well. The fact the messaging around vaccines has been poor will be little solace to you if you wind up with a bad preventable infection that hospitalizes you and leaves you with long term complications.
Item: The Toronto Star reports yet another nursing home decided to close, rather than go through the upgrade process to meet 2024 standards. North Park has 75 residents, all of whom will need a new place to stay. Additionally this comes while it is well known that the demand for nursing home beds will only increase (44,000 people on the wait list right now according to the article). The article pointed out that 25 Toronto area nursing homes have their licences set to expire in July 2025 and there is no guarantee these will be renewed.
My thoughts: The current government has pledge to build 30,000 new nursing home beds by 2028. Good for them. But I worry that with so many others closing this will not be enough. We need to start looking at alternatives for our seniors, such as various living at home programs so that they can be cared for with dignity and compassion. I also hope the new nursing homes will follow the “Butterfly Model” of care for the aged.
That’s it for this week. More snippets hopefully next Sunday.
justanoldcountrydoctor 