FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 13, 2012
Queen’s Park – “We can’t grow our economy or balance the books without reforming the delivery of health care and its related expenditures that amount to more than half the provincial budget.”
That according to Opposition MPP Toby Barrett following the release of the latest in a series of white papers from the Official Opposition dubbed, “Paths to Prosperity: Patient-Centred Health Care”.
“Change is overdue,” Barrett said. “If we continue down this path we’re on, health spending will take up 80 per cent of the budget by 2030 – the remaining 20 per cent wouldn’t even cover education. Real reform means putting patients and their needs at the centre of every decision, empowering frontline health professionals and fewer bureaucrats in distant head offices.”
Barrett encouraged residents to check out the details of the latest white paper noting that the first two in the series, Affordable Energy and Flexible Labour Markets, have already redefined public debate in Ontario in these two important fields. All three Paths to Prosperity white papers can be found at www.ontariopc.com/paths-to-prosperity
Proposals in Patient-Centred Health Care focus on three objectives: keeping Ontarians healthy, continually enhancing the patient experience and reducing the per capita cost of health care.
Tim Hudak and the Official Opposition propose the elimination of two layers of costly middle management in today’s health care system – the Local Health Integration Networks and Community Care Access Centres. This reform alone would remove 2,000 middle managers and use this money more efficiently on frontline patient care like nursing, personal support workers and doctors.
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For more information, please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: (416) 325-8404,
(519) 428-0446 or 1-800-903-8629