from the Miami Herald
Leon County Circuit Court Judge John Cooper on Tuesday struck down an attempt by the Florida Legislature to privatize prison health care by using a budgetary process instead of making the change through a full vote of lawmakers.
from thestar.com
MADRID, December 12, 2012,(AP) — Thousands of Spanish medical workers and residents angered by budget cuts and plans to partly privatize the cherished national health service marched through some of Madrid’s most famous squares on Sunday.
from Canadian Union of Public Employees
The attempted public-private partnership to expand and renovate North America's oldest hospital Quebec City's Hôtel-Dieu stands as a perfect example of the problems and pitfalls of turning to a P3 model — and what CUPE members can do to stop these risky schemes.
This documentary highlights the work of CUPE local 1108 and allies to keep the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec (CHUQ)'s Hôtel-Dieu a public hospital.
The pitfalls of the P3 model
by SGNews Staff
from the BC Nurses' Union
The BC Nurses’ Union is demanding BC health employers immediately withdraw their punitive policy on flu shots for healthcare workers, in light of scientific reviews questioning the credibility of the studies they’re using to justify it.
In a devastating letter in today’s Vancouver Sun, a representative of the UK-based Cochrane Collaboration effectively shredded the credibility of the rationales being put forward by provincial health officer Perry Kendall and others to try to force healthcare workers to get the shot or wear a mask for the duration of flu season.
The letter, from the organization’s Dr Tom Jefferson, ended “It is not my place to judge the policies underway in British Columbia, but coercion and forcing public ridicule on human beings (for example by forcing them to wear distinctive badges or clothing) is usually the practice of tyrants.”
“Nurses always strive to conduct ourselves in ways that are based on evidence,” says BCNU president Debra McPherson. “In light of the latest evidence presented by what is a very credible scientific organization untainted by drug company influence, it’s time for health employers to re-examine their policy and back off on their ill-advised attempts to coerce nurses and other healthcare workers to get the flu shot.
“The decision on whether to get a flu shot should be a matter of individual choice, not something that can bring shame and humiliation in the workplace or financial penalties and other disciplinary measures. For employers to persist in this ill-advised policy in the wake of serious questions about the credibility of the science behind it would be unconscionable.”
The union has filed a grievance against key aspects of the policy.
Dr Jefferson’s letter follows on the heels of research released last month from the Centre For Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.
In The Compelling Need for Game-Changing Influenza Vaccines, the organization’s researchers wrote that policies aimed at expanding vaccination rates by mandating it for healthcare workers are being made on the basis of expert opinion and with good intentions, but without compelling and scientifically sound research to support them.
The Cochrane Collaboration earlier wrote that “there is no credible evidence that vaccination of healthy people under the age of 60, who are HCWs caring for the elderly, affects influenza complications in those cared for.” [From: Efficacy and Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccines in Elderly People: a Systematic Review, Jefferson T, Rivetti D, Rivetti A, Rudin M, Di Pietrantonj C, Demicheli V. (2006)]
The Collaboration is an international network of more than thousands of scientists and researchers from more than 100 countries. “We work together to help healthcare providers, policy-makers, patients, their advocates and carers, make well-informed decisions about healthcare, by preparing, updating, and promoting the accessibility of Cochrane Reviews — over 5,000 so far, published online in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, part of The Cochrane Library. We also prepare the largest collection of records of randomised controlled trials in the world, called CENTRAL, published as part of The Cochrane Library. Our work is internationally recognised as the benchmark for high quality information about the effectiveness of healthcare.”
from the Canadian Health Coaltion
OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 14,2012/ Troy Media/ – A recent Canadian Press report on trade negotiations between Canada and the European Union (CETA) says Ottawa is prepared to give the Europeans, and the pharmaceutical industry, at least part of what they asked for on drug patents – a move that could cost Canadians up to $1 billion a year.
TORONTO, ON, September 24, 2012: Ontario nursing professionals are calling on the Health Minister to reject the proposed sale of Shouldice Hospital to a large for-profit conglomerate.
Members of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) have consistently called on governments of all political stripes to affirm their commitment to the Canada Health Act and the fundamental principle of a single-tier, not-for-profit health care system.
That's why RNAO is asking its members to write to Health Minister Deb Matthews to block the proposed sale of Shouldice Hospital, which is based in Thornhill. Centric Health, a rapidly growing health products company, recently announced its intention to purchase the hospital, well-known for the treatment of hernias. Centric is controlled by US-based Global Healthcare Investments and Solutions (GHIS), one of the largest private, for-profit health care companies in the world.
Mehra: The claims in the PC Party's White Paper about health spending are manipulative, and frankly, dishonest.TORONTO, ON, September 10, 2012: Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak should be required to answer tough questions resulting from the release of the PC Party's White Paper on Health Care, say Ontario Health Coalition leaders. Among the coalition's key observations:
Davies: “Studies project the patent extensions proposed by the EU could raise Canadians’ drug costs by $2.8 billion a year.”VANCOUVER, BC, August 23, 2012: The Conservative government should remove patent reform from the negotiations of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union, says New Democrat Trade Critic Don Davies.
“Changing the patent regime for pharmaceuticals is a complicated issue with deep consequences for Canadians, provincial healthcare programs, and Canadian employers,” said Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway). “Studies project the patent extensions proposed by the EU could raise Canadians’ drug costs by $2.8 billion a year.”
Drug costs are the second leading health care costs for provinces and are rising every year. A recent report reveals that many low income Canadians cannot afford the cost of their medicines and one in four are simply not filling their prescriptions.
Rally protests extra-billing practices at the Cambie Surgery Centre in BC.August 28, 2012: Health care workers, community groups and Canadian Doctors for Medicare gathered on August 20th to protest extra-billing practices at the Cambie Surgery Centre in BC.
The clinic had been audited by the Medical Services Commission and found to have extra-billed patients in contravention of the provincial Medicare Protection Act.
Medicare advocates are calling on the provincial government to take swift action against the clinic to ensure that the principles of equity and accessibility are preserved in the single-payer health system.
