- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,595
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 228
The Ottawa Hospital is at the centre of a provincial health storm after its breast imaging department announced it would stop accepting referrals of patients from outside the Champlain LHIN because of long delays.
“The department is reviewing referrals and developing a short- and long-term strategy to bring our wait times down to a more acceptable timeline,” wrote Dr. Jean Seely, head of breast imaging at The Ottawa Hospital, in a memo. “Until this is achieved, we will only be accepting referrals from our Champlain region on Ontario patients.”
The move contravenes provincial law that states access to health services is not limited to the geographic area of local health integration networks (LHINs).
Health Minister Eric Hoskins acknowledged that when the issue was raised in the Ontario Legislature Tuesday.
“There are no boundaries in terms of access to medicine,” he said. Later, in a statement, Hoskins said his staff had contacted The Ottawa Hospital “to ensure compliance” and the ministry would work with the hospital and the Champlain LHIN “to insure patients have access to necessary services.”
The hospital released a letter it had sent to affected physicians apologizing for any “inconvenience or stress,” because of the decision, but saying that because of wait times it is redirecting referrals to centres “with shorter wait times and (which are) closer to home.”
A spokesperson for the Champlain LHIN said it also “reminded” the hospital that patients cannot be prevented from receiving treatment because of where they live in the province.
The memo raised concern among doctors in Perth, which is just outside the boundaries of the Champlain LHIN, who say patient access has been an ongoing issue, despite assurances from LHIN officials that their boundaries are porous.
“You don’t basically deal with your problem by breaking the law and freezing the patients out and saying ‘screw you, I’ve got a budget to balance’,” said Perth surgeon Dr. Tom Morell, who regularly sends breast cancer patients to Ottawa for biopsies. He received the memo earlier this week.
Morell said he regularly asks breast cancer patients who require a biopsy whether they would prefer to be referred to Ottawa or Kingston. Perth is in the same LHIN as Kingston but slightly closer to Ottawa, to which it is connected by four-lane highways. Many patients have family in Ottawa, or work in Ottawa, so choose to be treated in Ottawa.
Dr. Alan Drummond, a Perth emergency and family physician, said there has been an ongoing issue with Ottawa over the years, but this is the first time the decision to limit patients within the LHIN has been formalized in writing. He said it ignores longstanding relationships between Perth-based doctors and their counterparts in Ottawa, some of which predated the formation of LHINs across the province in 2007.
Hillier said about 30 to 40 patients are sent to Ottawa for breast diagnostics every year. He called the memo from the head of breast imaging at the hospital “wholly unlawful.”
“We have been assured time and time again that LHIN boundaries will never be an impediment to health care, but it has been a problem. It is not acceptable that we can’t understand the concept of universal health care.”
epayne@postmedia.com
查看原文...
“The department is reviewing referrals and developing a short- and long-term strategy to bring our wait times down to a more acceptable timeline,” wrote Dr. Jean Seely, head of breast imaging at The Ottawa Hospital, in a memo. “Until this is achieved, we will only be accepting referrals from our Champlain region on Ontario patients.”
The move contravenes provincial law that states access to health services is not limited to the geographic area of local health integration networks (LHINs).
Health Minister Eric Hoskins acknowledged that when the issue was raised in the Ontario Legislature Tuesday.
“There are no boundaries in terms of access to medicine,” he said. Later, in a statement, Hoskins said his staff had contacted The Ottawa Hospital “to ensure compliance” and the ministry would work with the hospital and the Champlain LHIN “to insure patients have access to necessary services.”
The hospital released a letter it had sent to affected physicians apologizing for any “inconvenience or stress,” because of the decision, but saying that because of wait times it is redirecting referrals to centres “with shorter wait times and (which are) closer to home.”
A spokesperson for the Champlain LHIN said it also “reminded” the hospital that patients cannot be prevented from receiving treatment because of where they live in the province.
The memo raised concern among doctors in Perth, which is just outside the boundaries of the Champlain LHIN, who say patient access has been an ongoing issue, despite assurances from LHIN officials that their boundaries are porous.
“You don’t basically deal with your problem by breaking the law and freezing the patients out and saying ‘screw you, I’ve got a budget to balance’,” said Perth surgeon Dr. Tom Morell, who regularly sends breast cancer patients to Ottawa for biopsies. He received the memo earlier this week.
Morell said he regularly asks breast cancer patients who require a biopsy whether they would prefer to be referred to Ottawa or Kingston. Perth is in the same LHIN as Kingston but slightly closer to Ottawa, to which it is connected by four-lane highways. Many patients have family in Ottawa, or work in Ottawa, so choose to be treated in Ottawa.
Dr. Alan Drummond, a Perth emergency and family physician, said there has been an ongoing issue with Ottawa over the years, but this is the first time the decision to limit patients within the LHIN has been formalized in writing. He said it ignores longstanding relationships between Perth-based doctors and their counterparts in Ottawa, some of which predated the formation of LHINs across the province in 2007.
Hillier said about 30 to 40 patients are sent to Ottawa for breast diagnostics every year. He called the memo from the head of breast imaging at the hospital “wholly unlawful.”
“We have been assured time and time again that LHIN boundaries will never be an impediment to health care, but it has been a problem. It is not acceptable that we can’t understand the concept of universal health care.”
epayne@postmedia.com
查看原文...
