To the editor:
The Canada Health Act guarantees that you can receive publicly-funded physiotherapy as an inpatient or outpatient of your local hospital, yet you might be disappointed if you needed physiotherapy and couldn’t pay out of your own pocket.
Since 2007, more than 30 of Ontario’s hospitals have closed, downsized or privatized their outpatient physiotherapy clinics and other hospitals are thinking about following suit.
This is nothing less than a steady privatization of an important health care service that all Ontarians need, not just those who can afford to pay.
When a hospital announces a closure or cutbacks, they will usually announce that the same services are available elsewhere in your community, through OHIP funded designated physiotherapy clinics (DPC), your local community health centre (CHC), family health team (FHT), or in your home through our Community Care Access Centre (CCAC).
Be prepared for disappointment, however, if you find yourself dependent on these options to access necessary physiotherapy to recover from a surgery, injury or to maintain your health while coping with a chronic illness.
Your nearest DPC? No new ones have been created since the 1960s and there are none in Northwestern Ontario.
Your nearest CHC? There are only a few community health centres that even provide publicly funded physiotherapy and none of them are in Northwestern Ontario.
Your FHT? There are approximately 16 family health teams in Northwestern Ontario. Yet despite promises to do so, the McGuinty government hasn’t funded a single physiotherapist position in any of them.
Your CCAC? Because of budgetary constraints, CCACs are being forced to implement wait lists, limit the number of services and visits and restrict eligibility.
Each sector of our health care system passes the buck to the others, and those who really need physiotherapy pay the price. Literally if they can afford it and risk deteriorating health if they cannot.
The good news is the overwhelming evidence that your physiotherapist is critically important to your health; to restoring function after a stroke, surgery or illness and helping many, like seniors, maintain their mobility and ability to live independently.
Physiotherapists reduce the demand for hospital and long-term care beds and emergency room visits. Physiotherapy also has a major impact on decreasing wait times for joint replacement surgeries and increasing access to specialized care for chronic conditions such as arthritis and diabetes.
The bad news is that our health care system is not taking full advantage of the benefits that physiotherapists can bring to the system and to Ontarians.
The Ontario Physiotherapy Association has asked for a freeze on cutbacks to physiotherapy services. We’ve asked the government to initiate a review of the shortfalls and gaps in accessing physiotherapy and to make sure there is a plan that ensures you have access to the services you need.
We are not asking for more taxpayers’ dollars to be spent on physiotherapy. Instead, we are asking for the money spent by our government on physiotherapy services be spent more cost effectively and based on the best clinical evidence.
Join me in asking our politicians to ensure that you have access to the physiotherapist services you need.
Christopher Winn,
Thunder Bay,
President, Ontario Physiotherapy Association
