Hospital pressures no laughing matter, Premier Ford

Trevor's Take

Last month, at the grand opening of a 60,000 square foot animal hospital north of Toronto, Premier Ford joked, “by the looks of it we know where we can send the overflow patients now for MRIs and CAT scans and everything else,” as quoted by the CBC and other news services.

Political advisors of every stripe would agree that that was an ill-advised joke. But underlying the suggestion that those waiting for health services could use a hospital meant for cats and dogs is the plain truth that our health services are underserved and underfunded.

While I don’t think our premier really wants me to be lying in a bed next to Fluffy, it appears that, based on funding priorities, Ford and his ilk want us to access more and more care outside of public hospitals. The $1.2 billion health care increase announced in February sounds impressive, and the government certainly trumpeted it. Thing is, this 1.5 per cent increase is really a funding decrease when you take into account population growth and inflation. But private clinics? They are doing well, according to the Ontario Health Coalition, which analyzed independent government figures. Private health facilities received a whopping 212 per cent funding increase. So while I may not be in a bed next to Fido, it’s clear someone is in bed with someone else.

Ontario funds its hospitals lower per capita than any other province, and most of us would agree we see that locally. The last time there was a grand opening for a major expansion at Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) was April, 2005. For historical context, that was the month when the first YouTube video was uploaded. And just like YouTube, RMH is busting at the seams.

Since 2005, the population of Kawartha Lakes (which is only part of the catchment area of the RMH) has grown by an estimated 10 per cent. And according to our mayor, the population of Lindsay alone will double in the next 10 years.

But population growth is not the only stressor on our local hospital. An aging population that is living longer requires more complex medical care. A shortage of family doctors means that people are using hospital emergency services because they don’t have a family doctor. As is the super jail population. And the growing mental health, homelessness and drug problems in our society lead to more hospital usage.

Granted some of the stressors could be reduced with other proactive policy measures, by, I don’t know, perhaps actually addressing homelessness and mental health. But based on population growth estimates alone, we should be expanding the RMH or building another hospital now. Not in 10 years when the growth has already happened.

But from our leaders? Silence. As a classic Far Side cartoon once riffed on silence, ‘somewhere in the distance, a dog barked.’