| MPP Arnott Addresses Home Care Funding and Constituent Survey Results
Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott made the following statement in the Ontario Legislature on October 2, 2001:
Mr Ted Arnott (Waterloo-Wellington):
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Earlier this year, I conducted a survey of my constituents in Waterloo-Wellington. The results were tabulated over the summer, and I have received strong and clear advice about health care. Here are the results.
Is the Ontario Government managing health care effectively? 54 per cent of the respondents said “no”. Is the province spending enough on health care? 46 per cent said “no” and only 30 per cent said “yes”.
On a more positive note, my constituents reported favourable personal experiences with the health care system in Waterloo-Wellington, indicating a satisfaction rating of 54 per cent.
The responses indicated strong support for my Private Member's Resolution which called for a restoration of the federal government's cuts to health care, at 79 per cent, and 81 per cent supported my demand for an escalator clause that would increase federal funding to keep pace with rising costs.
Recently, concerns about home care funding in Ontario were also brought to my attention at meetings with representatives of the Community Care Access Centre of Waterloo Region.
As part of a province-wide measure, the provincial home care budget has been frozen at last year's level while demands for services increase steadily and funding inadequacies mean that home care services in some individual instances have been reduced.
Some patients are receiving less care, and some aren't receiving the care they need because they are on a waiting list.
With the budget for home care frozen across the Province, more patients will need hospital or long term care beds, the very expensive, and sometimes unavailable options that home care was designed to replace where appropriate.
It is time for the Government to take the steps necessary to address these problems by making sure that home care services are available to all who need them, that provincial home care funding is equitably distributed throughout the province, and that unnecessary administration costs don't eat into home care services that people need. |
