Ontario Health Care

[scribblet]

is a mess, access to a wait list is not access to health care.   Regardless of all it's warts the U.S. health system is far superior.   Speaking for myself,  my appt. with the ortho guy is one year, if an operation is required at least another year.   If I win the lottery, I'm off to the U.S. 

This is just one example of what goes on in our health care system,  I agree, raise taxes or bring in user fees to improve the system and hire more people, or allow private coverage.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5170948?

[Zeitgeist]

I’ve found the system pretty responsive, but I do think there’s a difference between country hospitals.  If I have a serious issue, I go to the bigger hospitals.  

[bush_cheney2004]

Neil Macdonald  is back in Ontario after a long foreign assignment in the United States, where he likely used D.C./Maryland area hospitals and clinics that have lots of excess capacity.   It probably was a shock to him to go to a crowded ER in Ontario and wait a long time just like everybody else, delaying care with lots of pain meds (opiates).

He might have done better in Alberta or BC.

[Zeitgeist]

1 minute ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

Neil Macdonald  is back in Ontario after a long foreign assignment in the United States, where he likely used D.C./Maryland area hospitals and clinics that have lots of excess capacity.   It probably was a shock to him to go to a crowded ER in Ontario and wait a long time just like everybody else, delaying care with lots of pain meds (opiates).

He might have done better in Alberta or BC.

Where I live there’s a beautiful new hospital that looks like a cross between a Four Seasons hotel, an airport departure lounge, and a shopping mall.  It’s never crowded, but I know I’ll never get out of there in less than four hours.  The doctors on call seem to be enjoying their backyard Muskoka chairs a bit too much, because they always seem pretty relaxed when they waltz in.  Mind you I haven’t had to go for anything serious yet.  

[Armchairprophet]

After 15 years of Liberal mismanagement and incompetence it's no wonder the Ontario health care system is broken. Mind you, there's also a BIG difference in wait times and such depending on where you live. the clinics have become a joke too. There were created to take some of the stress off of hospital emergency depts but lately I haven't been seeing that. Now if you need more than a  stitch or two the clinics tell you to go the emerg. And I don't believe emergency depts are doing real triage anymore. It IS a first come-first served basis unless you arrive by ambulance as a trauma case. 

Then there's the twits sitting in emerg playing Candy Crush on their phones while they wait for medical care. I'm sorry but if you're lucid enough to play stupid games on your f***ing phone, then it's NOT an emergency. Achh, I shouldn't really blame them too much. Most of them were probably sent there by the clinics anyway.

[Argus]

Person A: Female early 50s. Has small, temporary seizures. Goes to doctor, who restricts her from driving, gives her a month off work (paid) and makes a referral to a neurologist. a week later she goes to ER after having another, and they do some tests, including a CT scan, diagnose it as a mini-stroke. So what do they do? Give her a prescription and send her home. She has appointment with the neurologist (today actually) who will likely recommend an MRI. Why not perform one when she was there? Because that's not how it works.

Person B: Male mid-50s. Starts having terrible stomach pains. Goes to ER. They think it might be a bleeding ulcer, or something to do with his pancreas. Give him some drugs and send him home. Gets appointment with his DR several days later, who curses out the hospital for not doing a particular blood test. Sends him to get one, then gives him some drugs. Then he schedules him for an endoscopy (where they stick a camera down your throat). Why couldn't that have been done at the hospital? Because that's not how it works. After camera test gives him different drugs. Guy has been off work three weeks now.

The system is not organized or efficient. There needs to be slack, especially in diagnostic tests, so that things like this are tested immediately, not put off to slip into the queue.

[Armchairprophet]

23 hours ago, Argus said:

Person A: Female early 50s. Has small, temporary seizures. Goes to doctor, who restricts her from driving, gives her a month off work (paid) and makes a referral to a neurologist. a week later she goes to ER after having another, and they do some tests, including a CT scan, diagnose it as a mini-stroke. So what do they do? Give her a prescription and send her home. She has appointment with the neurologist (today actually) who will likely recommend an MRI. Why not perform one when she was there? Because that's not how it works.

Person B: Male mid-50s. Starts having terrible stomach pains. Goes to ER. They think it might be a bleeding ulcer, or something to do with his pancreas. Give him some drugs and send him home. Gets appointment with his DR several days later, who curses out the hospital for not doing a particular blood test. Sends him to get one, then gives him some drugs. Then he schedules him for an endoscopy (where they stick a camera down your throat). Why couldn't that have been done at the hospital? Because that's not how it works. After camera test gives him different drugs. Guy has been off work three weeks now.

The system is not organized or efficient. There needs to be slack, especially in diagnostic tests, so that things like this are tested immediately, not put off to slip into the queue.

When my son fractured his hand and knee he had to go to the fracture clinic twice. One day for his hand and two days later for his knee. Apparently the doctors working the fracture clinic are specialist specialists and each focuses only on one specific part of the skeleton.