Toronto – The Ontario Health Coalition expressed deep concern about the misleading pre-election campaign underway by a for-profit surgical clinic and the Conservative Party. Yesterday's Globe and Mail contained a front-page story claiming that the for-profit clinic is bidding for hip and knee surgeries at a cheaper rate than public non-profit hospitals.The well-orchestrated privatization campaign claims that the provincial government's denial of a contract to the clinic is a refusal to reduce waiting lists.

"John Tory is engaging in a dangerous and disingenuous game of political bullying," said Natalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition. "The Conservatives’ "damn-the-consequences" approach to health care privatization is astoundingly short-sighted. John Tory’s Conservatives aligned with a set of vested interests that pose a significant threat to the public health system. As we have seen across Canada and around the world, private clinics damage the public system. They cost more and take scarce health professionals out of the public system."

"Not only do for-profit surgical centres siphon key personnel away from regional public hospitals, they also "cherry-pick" the easy cases leaving public hospitals struggling with less staff to care for the heavy care patients. The chief of staff and other personnel in the Don Mills Surgical Centre are already splitting their time between public non-profit hospitals and their private business," noted Ross Sutherland, RN. "If you actually compare apples and apples – cases of similar complexity -- the private clinics cost more. Any complications - infections, bleeding, or patients who need intensive medical support - will be transferred to the public system. Training costs are borne by the public system. The private clinic does not have to pay for its errors, it simply takes public money for profit-seeking purposes. The overwhelming evidence is that - when not campaigning for privatization just before an election - private surgical clinics charge more than non-profit hospitals for the same procedures."



For a list of cost-comparisons, see our press release sent out on March 16 at www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca





Ontario Health Coalition Backgrounder on Private Clinics –

Evidence from the system-wide experiment in Britain



In a letter sent by the British National Health Service Physician's President to the Canadian Medical Association in August 2005, the British doctors warned against the incursion of private clinics:



"We are writing, as British doctors, to share what we have learned first-hand about the dangers of private sector involvement in health care, in the hopes that our colleagues in Canada can learn from our country's mistakes and reject private care and other market-style policies.

Short-term improvements in easily counted and politically important areas like waiting lists are being achieved by expensive deals with the private sector. These include not only using spare capacity in existing private facilities, but now the establishment of "independent sector treatment centres" (ISTCs), often owned and staffed by foreign commercial concerns.



These ISTCs are offered long-term contracts with guaranteed income at costs up to 40% higher than the NHS. They "cherry pick" the simple cases and have little responsibility for complications or follow up. Their clinical governance arrangements are currently unclear and there are already concerns about the quality of care in ISTCs.



The removal of much elective surgery from the NHS is putting training in some specialities at risk. Because fewer of the low-risk cases are being seen in NHS hospitals, young surgeons are no longer getting the training they need. In addition, the concentration on short-term episodic care is diverting attention and funds from the majority of patients, whose needs are for the longer-term management of chronic disease or disability.



The concept was initially "sold" as a short-term measure to tackle the backlog until the NHS was able to take on all its commitments but it is now clear that the government intends the growing private sector to remain and compete with the publicly provided NHS, frequently on an unfair basis....



Beware the recurrent reorganisations which we have suffered over the years, which have damaged the morale of both clinicians and managers whilst totally bewildering patients and harming care. The most cost-effective system is the simplest: an organisation with a budget to provide services for the people of its area and democratically accountable to them." (Letter from Drs. Peter Fisher and Jacky Davis, NHS Consultants Association, August 15, 2005 at www.healthcoalition.ca/cmabma.pdf)



For more information: Ontario Health Coalition 416-441-2502