Here's Jonathan Sher and Adela Talbot's Jul.15, 2011 London Free Press report Health minister defends Ontario's C. difficile fight:
"The provincial government is proud of actions it has taken to protect patients against infection, Health Minister Deb Matthews insisted Friday.
Matthews, MPP for London-North-Centre, said the Excellent Care For All legislation, passed last year with unanimous support, requires hospitals to develop continuous improvement plans and to publicly report on hospital safety and patient satisfaction.
"Ontario hospitals are working very hard to reduce infection rates . . . to protect the safety of patients," she said.
"We're proud of what we've done and we want to keep working (toward) progress."
Most hospitals, including London's, use a slow, dated and inaccurate method of detection, scientists say.
More modern tests take hours or less rather than days and are much more accurate, Public Health Ontario acknowledges.
That may be true, but it's ultimately up to the hospitals themselves to choose what technology they want to use, Matthews said.
"Many hospitals have made the decision to switch over . . . and we want to support our hospitals," she said.
"I'm proud of the investments and the progress we have seen when it comes to getting infection rates down. This isn't about politics, it's about patient safety."
Only a few hospitals have moved to the newer test and all after outbreaks of C. difficile -- those in Hamilton and Niagara, while London will make the transition soon.
The new tests cost more, between two and four times as much as the older tests, and that has proven an obstacle to hospitals that get no added money from the Health Ministry for making the switch.
The newer tests detect the DNA of the superbug while older tests only look for toxins it may produce and missing many superbugs in the process, microbiologists say.
And in the long run, the new test might save money by catching cases sooner, starting treatment earlier and reducing the spread of C. difficile, microbiologists say, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, has defended the province's response to C. difficile outbreaks, saying he had "full confidence in the province's health-care system to effectively and efficiently manage any hospital acquired infections."
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THE OUTBREAKS
So McGuinty's Liberals are proud of their killer C. difficile record - while distancing themselves from their own health budget underfunding!
Deb Matthews made clear her intention to distance herself from any culpability in the latest C. diff outbreak, by foisting the responsibility onto the hospitals.
Deb Matthews is saying 'Oh, sure, these hospitals chose not to invest in the new, higher cost tests - it ain't my problem, I'm proud to say!! I've got my Liberal monopolist ass covered from liability!!'
But the point which Matthews avoids acknowledging is that her LIBERAL MONOPOLIST, LHIN-FILTERED BLOCK-FUNDING is an obstacle for the budget-strapped hospitals, when it comes to using the new infection-detection protocol (..and in many other areas, as well)
Here is the devious duplicity of the McGuinty's Liberals at work again, in its finest two-faced despotic glory: enforce a single-payer monopoly, while at the same time, forcing hospitals to forsake one standard of infection-detection for another, lesser standard, due to Liberal ideological monopolist block funding limitations. Allocate state-monopolist funding for a lower standard of care, then hold yourself harmless for the subsequent deaths by proudly pointing out 'hey - those hospitals chose to stick with the old detection guidelines!'
Liberal ass-covering genius, isn't it?
(...and forget about how McGuinty's Liberals under Smitherman hid from investigation back in 2008, after hundreds of Ontario C. diff deaths!)
The fact that McGuinty and Deb Matthews chose not to implement and fund the latest technologies system-wide, across Ontario, is, amazingly, NOT MENTIONED by Deb!!!
And as for Niagara's dead and infected patients, who had believed the Liberal lies, and who had thought that Jim Bradley's and Kim Craitor's glorious Liberals were funding a high standard of health care: hahaha; all yer gonna get from Mcginny is adequate healthcare... maybe... and don't you dare ask for a legal definition of "adequate health care" either, dammit...
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"The provincial government is proud of actions it has taken to protect patients against infection, Health Minister Deb Matthews insisted Friday.
Matthews, MPP for London-North-Centre, said the Excellent Care For All legislation, passed last year with unanimous support, requires hospitals to develop continuous improvement plans and to publicly report on hospital safety and patient satisfaction.
"Ontario hospitals are working very hard to reduce infection rates . . . to protect the safety of patients," she said.
"We're proud of what we've done and we want to keep working (toward) progress."
Most hospitals, including London's, use a slow, dated and inaccurate method of detection, scientists say.
More modern tests take hours or less rather than days and are much more accurate, Public Health Ontario acknowledges.
That may be true, but it's ultimately up to the hospitals themselves to choose what technology they want to use, Matthews said.
"Many hospitals have made the decision to switch over . . . and we want to support our hospitals," she said.
"I'm proud of the investments and the progress we have seen when it comes to getting infection rates down. This isn't about politics, it's about patient safety."
Only a few hospitals have moved to the newer test and all after outbreaks of C. difficile -- those in Hamilton and Niagara, while London will make the transition soon.
The new tests cost more, between two and four times as much as the older tests, and that has proven an obstacle to hospitals that get no added money from the Health Ministry for making the switch.
The newer tests detect the DNA of the superbug while older tests only look for toxins it may produce and missing many superbugs in the process, microbiologists say.
And in the long run, the new test might save money by catching cases sooner, starting treatment earlier and reducing the spread of C. difficile, microbiologists say, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, has defended the province's response to C. difficile outbreaks, saying he had "full confidence in the province's health-care system to effectively and efficiently manage any hospital acquired infections."
--- --- ---
THE OUTBREAKS
- Welland C. difficile patient dies, another hospital worker infected
- Niagara Health System chief Sue Matthews vows crackdown on a "gap in knowledge" about infection control among staff.
- Latest patient death brings the total to 23 since the first Niagara outbreak was declared in St. Catharines May 28.
- At least 20 patient deaths were hospital-acquired cases; two others acquired the infection in the community.
- A caregiver at Welland hospital, who tested positive Friday for C. difficile, had been off work sick since July 13."
So McGuinty's Liberals are proud of their killer C. difficile record - while distancing themselves from their own health budget underfunding!
Deb Matthews made clear her intention to distance herself from any culpability in the latest C. diff outbreak, by foisting the responsibility onto the hospitals.
Deb Matthews is saying 'Oh, sure, these hospitals chose not to invest in the new, higher cost tests - it ain't my problem, I'm proud to say!! I've got my Liberal monopolist ass covered from liability!!'
But the point which Matthews avoids acknowledging is that her LIBERAL MONOPOLIST, LHIN-FILTERED BLOCK-FUNDING is an obstacle for the budget-strapped hospitals, when it comes to using the new infection-detection protocol (..and in many other areas, as well)
Here is the devious duplicity of the McGuinty's Liberals at work again, in its finest two-faced despotic glory: enforce a single-payer monopoly, while at the same time, forcing hospitals to forsake one standard of infection-detection for another, lesser standard, due to Liberal ideological monopolist block funding limitations. Allocate state-monopolist funding for a lower standard of care, then hold yourself harmless for the subsequent deaths by proudly pointing out 'hey - those hospitals chose to stick with the old detection guidelines!'
Liberal ass-covering genius, isn't it?
(...and forget about how McGuinty's Liberals under Smitherman hid from investigation back in 2008, after hundreds of Ontario C. diff deaths!)
The fact that McGuinty and Deb Matthews chose not to implement and fund the latest technologies system-wide, across Ontario, is, amazingly, NOT MENTIONED by Deb!!!
And as for Niagara's dead and infected patients, who had believed the Liberal lies, and who had thought that Jim Bradley's and Kim Craitor's glorious Liberals were funding a high standard of health care: hahaha; all yer gonna get from Mcginny is adequate healthcare... maybe... and don't you dare ask for a legal definition of "adequate health care" either, dammit...
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