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Concordia running out of fundsPatients needing basic tests, blood or ultrasound, turned away: memoBy Alexandra PaulMedical Reporter_STARVED FOR provincial funding, Concordia Genera! Hospital is turning away patients referred by their doctors for basic blood tests and ultrasounds, an internal memo says.We are sending our community away from us in order to solve our funding crisis, the Feb. 4 memo by medical staff president Dr. Dennis Caners concludes.The 136-bed hospital, with a $27 million budget, is a lifeline for an estimated 135,000 people in Elmwood, TVanscona, East Kildonan and North Kildonan.The physicians who work out of Concordia are struggling to do their jobs but are deprived of the adequate tools, Caners states in the four-page document.In an overview of the impact budget cuts have had on the hospital since 3992, Caners singles out pathology, imaging and social services.Obstetrical ultrasounds, common in most hospitals, have been eliminated entirely. Patient waiting lists for other kinds of ultrasonography are three months long, Caners notes.Several of our physicians currently utilize the Selkirk (District General) facility, thereby sending patients away from Concordia, the memo states.Concordia is caught in a funding vice that is squeezing it twice as hard as other Winnipeg community hospitals, it says.Yet Concordia has among the highest load of any city hospital with a 24-hour emergency room and 28,619 visits by patients in 1995-96. Only Victoria, with 29,860 emergency visits, has a higher load.Concordia’s vice-president of medicine, Dr. Henry Dirks, said Caner’s memo outlines an alarming scenario.The Concordia has such a busyemergency, and with only 136 beds we are managing a volume of (nearly) 30,000 patients. If we have the right size (budget), then the other hospitals are too big,” Dirks said.He believes the reverse is closer to the truth. But the province’s refrain is always — “There’s no money, Dirks said.At the same time, more people are moving into the hospital’s catchment area, he said. Long-time residents prefer to see doctors at Concordia instead of travelling downtown to the major clinics.Memo outlines hospital’s crisisTHE MEMO bv Dr. Dennis Caner, medical staff president, details Concordia Hospital's crisis in terms of its lack of staff and equipment in comparison with other facilities.■ Victoria, Grace, Misericordla,Selkirk and Seven Oaks community hospitals all have two ultrasound machines, two technicians and the accompanying clerical and porter support.Concordia has one ultrasound machine, one technician and ‘insufficient clerical and porter support. Obstetrical ultrasounds have beencut entirely.The hospital now does 40 per cent fewer ultrasounds than other city hospitals.Dr. Henry Dirks, Concordia’s vice-president of medicine, said the hospital needs $100,000 for a second ultrasound machine and an additional $100,000 a year for supplies and a technician.■ Seven Oaks and Victoria have two pathologists and the Grace has three. Concordia has one pathologist whose work week stretches into an additional 30 per cent in overtime every week — in part to ensure biopsies for cancer from surgery cases are done as fast as possible.Provincial funding is- In place to increase surgery this coming fiscal year at Concordia by about 30 per cent. That will mean an even greater number of biopsies and tests for the pathologist, the memo says.Concordia staff is hoping for fast action on funding reforms to amalgamate hospital laboratory services in Winnipeg.■ Victoria has three social workers, Misercordia has five, Seven Oaks has the equivalent of 5.25 and Grace the equivalent of 6.5 social workers. Concordia has one social worker. Social workers’tasks include setting up home care arrangements.A government source said Concordia’s funding crisis is attracting attention because hospital budgets are being negotiated now for the fiscal year that starts April 1.“We’re working on the budgets and we’ll be dealing with that issue when it is brought to us, the source said.Dirks said senior hospital staff are setting aside time on Monday to discuss the funding crisis and develop a strategy towards getting provincial help.
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Sat, Feb 08, 1997
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Jay F.
CA 28 Jul 2020
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