Niagara Health System’s $7 Million Deficit And ‘Best Practice’

By Pat Scholfield

Once again, the Niagara Health System is predicting a $7million deficit; nearly triple its originally proposed $2 million.

Niagara hospital services advocate Pat Scholfield

This has come after the NHS, the body responsible for managing most of the hospital services in Niagara, Ontario, has been feverishly implementing the HIP (hospital
improvement plan), which was calculated to reduce their annual deficits.

Obviously, the HIP has not worked as planned.

A major part of the HIP, applied quickly, was the cutting of around 100 beds across Niagara and an equal number of frontline staff, as well as shutting down emergency rooms (ERs) and operating rooms (Ors) at the Port Colborne and Fort Erie hospitals.

These measures had the effect of requiring overtime of existing staff, which
ultimately led to sick time; thereby increasing the overall budget of the NHS.
At the same time, bed closures and the removal of the ERs had the culminating
effect of increasing ER wait times at the remaining three ERs dramatically and
creating soaring off-load times for NEMS (Niagara Emergency Medical Services).

The NHS prides itself on using ‘Best Practice’ in its operations. This does not
appear to be Best Practice. Best Practice should be hiring enough staff that
does not rely on overtime and costs more per hour, and can create stress and
fatigue, which leads to sick time, thereby increasing the strain on the budget.
Also Best Practice should be reducing ER wait times, something the Ontario Ministry of Health
(MoH) is setting as a priority. Soaring offload wait times for ambulances cannot
be a good thing.

Beyond using ‘Poor Practice’, the NHS needs to be challenged on their budget
figures. The NHS claims they received $14 million in 2010 from the MoH. They now
purport to have an annual budget of $400 million. However, some of their reports
state $406 and $405 million. In 2008, they had a $360 million annual budget.
With only a $14 million annual infusion, how did that grow to $400-$406 million?
There is a $40 to $46 million difference. Where did this come from and why
hasn’t the NHS given us the true facts on their budget?

Incidentally, it is interesting to note in 2005 the NHS had an annual operating
budget of $270 million and a deficit of $14 million.

The other question that needs to be asked of the NHS is, “Does the NHS plan on
using their predicted $7 million deficit as justification for further cuts?”

Pat Scholfield is a longtime citizen advocate for accessible hospital care for all in the region and is a resident of south Niagara.

Niagara At Large is including below the presentation of a petition from some 7,000 Niagara residents in the provincial legislature this past December by Welland Riding MPP Peter Kormos. The petition calls on the Ministry of Health to investigate the management of the Niagara Health System – a call that so far appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Official Records for 1 December 2010
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO
PETITIONS <<Peter Kormos Present NHS Petition in Ontario Legislature.pdf>>
HOSPITAL SERVICES

Mr. Peter Kormos: I have a petition addressed to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

Welland Riding MPP Peter Kormos

“Whereas the Niagara Health System’s (NHS) closure of the ERs in Port Colborne and in Fort Erie has led to increases of wait times of more than 18 hours for complex care in the ERs of Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland;

“Whereas the closure of the two ERs has led to an increase in travel time to the remaining ERs, thus endangering the lives of patients in need of critical care. Two people so far have died in the ambulance en route to the Welland hospital from Fort Erie and Port Colborne;

“Whereas the Niagara Health System increased the taxpayers’ burden to pay for additional ambulances and paramedics without first consulting municipalities and the public;

“Whereas the Niagara Health System, by greatly reducing the number of beds available in all of its hospitals, created a serious bed shortage resulting in the cancellation of surgeries and patients waiting in the ER for days before being transferred for appropriate care;

“Whereas the Niagara Health System, by drastically reducing the number of nurses, medical professionals and support staff, has created a situation where due to a lack of staffing surgeries are cancelled, wait times in the ERs have increased, ambulance gridlock is the norm, and housekeeping and maintenance of hospitals have deteriorated;
“Whereas the Niagara Health System has reduced and cut hospital services in many municipalities, thereby denying equal access to hospital care for over 50,000 people in Fort Erie, Port Colborne and Welland. Higher transportation costs for ambulance and patient transfer have created an unfair barrier to health care for those residents;

“Whereas the Niagara Health System, by continuing to implement its restructuring plan (hospital improvement plan) without first evaluating its impact to date on patient care and access to hospitals, will make further cuts to hospital services and beds in Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland and adversely affect over 300,000 residents;

“We, the undersigned, urge the Legislative Assembly of Ontario under the provisions of the Public Hospitals Act to send an independent investigator to investigate the Niagara Health System and to act quickly on his/her recommendations in order to improve the quality of management, patient care and access to hospital services throughout the region and to meet all of Niagara’s communities’ growing health care needs, and to ensure that there is a substantive improvement in the quality and accessibility to health care in the Niagara region.”

This petition is signed by approximately 7,000 people. It’s certified by the Clerk, pursuant to the standing orders, and I have affixed my signature and endorse its proposal.

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