Editor's note: Mr. Campbell writes in response to the letter to the editor Canada should have public and private hospitals competing for patients.
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Dear Editor:
Thinking of hospitals as a consumer good in a competitive health market is a mug's game, and frankly dangerous.
Letter writer Paul Trussler is misguided as to how competition would play out in a privatized health system. In a labour market where coveted healthcare staff are in short supply competition won’t be over patients – but workers. Our public hospitals would be competing for scarce health staff – from nurses to cleaners to doctors – with private outfits operating outside our public hospitals’ legislation.
These private corporations can charge additional fees for some services and have a revenue stream that could be used to dangle higher salaries This would lure our public hospital staff whose wages have been purposely kept low and workloads high by Ontario’s provincial government underinvestment (for health care) to work in the private hospitals.
All we need to do is look to our American neighbours to see how competition also adversely impacts access to quality patient care, which in that two-tier privatized health system, is readily available to some, but not to the majority. What we know is that private hospitals siphon off patients with less medical needs, leaving state (public) hospitals to deal with poorer patients with more complex conditions.
Let’s not be seduced by those offering the simplistic and harmful “competition” argument in pushing private health care. Rather, let’s put our energy into getting our MPP who has influence with the PC government to advocate for funding for our public hospitals at least at the level of other provinces and at inflationary costs to deal with the ageing and growing population, going forward.
This way all patients will have access to good care being provided in fully public hospitals by more staff who are paid higher wages and have manageable workloads.
Sincerely,
Brett Campbell
President, CUPE 139 representing nearly 1,000 registered practical nurses, personal support workers, clerical, custodial, dietary, trades other front-line staff at the North Bay Regional Health Centre.
