For Immediate Release
May 08, 2008

SMITHERMAN WAITS UNTIL TOO LATE: SCOTT
Minister has no idea how many affected with C. difficile

(Queen’s Park) – Progressive Conservative MPP Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock) and Opposition Critic for Health Promotion, today asked Health Minister George Smitherman if he has any idea how many Ontario hospitals are being affected by C. difficile and why he waited until after a report was released citing dozens of deaths to call for mandatory reporting of infections.

“It is appalling that the Minister of Health doesn’t even know how many deaths caused by C. difficile have taken place in Ontario because he allowed his Ministry to sit back and did nothing to make our hospitals and long term care homes safe,” said Scott.

Scott thanked the “good work and outstanding effort” of staff at Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, which this week released a report with respect to an outbreak of C. difficile that began in 2006.

In 2003, Quebec hospitals were hard hit by the same virus, which caused the death of over 2,000 patients.   In 2004, The Canadian Medical Association recommended each province develop an outbreak control plan.  Despite this recommendation, the McGuinty government has not prepared a plan.

Smitherman’s response failed to answer Scott’s question and included inaccurate statements.  Instead, Smitherman put responsibility on front line staff and questioned the hygienic behaviour of individuals in the hospital environment.

“Instead of passing the buck to front-line hospital staff, the Minister responsible for the management of health care in Ontario should have established a plan to report and track C. difficile years ago,” said Scott, who has been a Registered Nurse for over 20 years.  “The real concern is that the McGuinty Liberals did not institute mandatory reporting requirements immediately after the outbreak crisis in Quebec.”

“Mr. Smitherman should have made it his duty for his Ministry to know whether other hospitals and long term care homes are facing the same issue. If he did his duty, the necessary steps could have been taken to help ensure that more vulnerable health recipients don’t end up dying of this very dangerous virus.”

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For more information contact:
Laurie Scott, MPP Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock
705-324-6654 or 1-800-424-2490

Ms. Laurie Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. A recently released report states that in the province of Ontario there is an existing threat of a C. difficile outbreak. It also states that control of this strain requires measures beyond normal infection control procedures. That being said, Minister, why have we not heard from you or your ministry about this situation?

Hon. George Smitherman: I think that matters of infections in hospitals is an often spoken about and much publicized challenge in health care environments, and one would only need to Google to understand that.

If the member is speaking more specifically about circumstances which we’ve all become aware of just in the last day or so related to Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, I can tell the honourable member that we’re going to take measures, working with the Ontario Hospital Association to add C. difficile as a reportable circumstance. This will dramatically enhance the transparency associated with these challenges which do occur from time to time in Ontario’s hospitals. I think this will be a very, very substantive improvement, enhancing the public’s awareness of these challenging circumstances in hospital environments.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?

Ms. Laurie Scott: And I thank God for the good work of the outstanding effort done by the staff at Joseph Brant hospital in dealing with this situation on their own. They’re certainly a leader in the province.

As minister responsible for the management of health care in this province, you should be able to take the necessary steps to ensure that when people go to a hospital for treatment today, or a long-term care home, they don’t end up dying from this very dangerous superbug. Can you tell us today how many hospitals and how many long-term care facilities in Ontario are dealing with similar outbreaks of C. difficile, and if you don’t know, how can you guarantee Ontarians today that hospitals and seniors’ facilities are safe?

Hon. George Smitherman: I think the honourable member herself, as a former health care worker, would understand that the responsibility and obligation associated with the management of challenges like C. difficile is not something that a head office of a ministry manages. It requires everybody to be aligned in that regard, and when we think about C. difficile, it really does reinforce the absolute and sheer necessity of very aggressive policies, like handwashing, which is really about the behaviour of individuals in the hospital environment, be they staff, visitors or patients themselves. We need to encourage all of those activities in arming ourselves in battle appropriately against these very challenging infections.

To the honourable member’s question: There is no data collected on that point, but as I had a chance to say yesterday and in my earlier answer, we’re moving forward with a very aggressive regime, which I’ll speak about more in my final supplementary.

Ms. Laurie Scott: The outbreak of C. difficile in Quebec caused the loss of life of over 2,000 people. It was a wake-up call to all health ministries across the province. Manitoba and Quebec have implemented new reporting systems. In 2004, the Canadian Medical Association recommended that each province develop a plan for the reporting and tracking of C. difficile cases so that outbreaks can be managed and controlled.

I know that Joseph Brant hospital has been asking and applying for five years for dollars for renewal and reconstruction, and part of that is to deal with the new standards for infectious disease standards that are out there.

Given that this is Emergency Preparedness Week, why has nothing been done since 2004 to bring in reporting requirements with respect to C. difficile and a plan to track and monitor these outbreaks? Dr. Michael Baker in your ministry stated, “The public have a right to know what we do. We have no reason to keep information like that from the public.” What have you been waiting for, Minister?

Hon. George Smitherman: Firstly, the honourable member’s assertion that nothing has been done is, of course, inaccurate. One hundred and thirty-seven funded positions for people to focus specifically on infectious disease are one parcel of what has been done, and two of these individuals are working in the very hospital that the honourable member speaks about today.

Most certainly there is a growing body of awareness about the opportunities and necessity of enhancing transparency in our public health care system, not just about the presence of C. difficile but about a range of other things. Those were contained, in part, in Bill 171, which the honourable member voted against in this very same Legislature about a year ago. Working with our partners at the Ontario Hospital Association, we intend to come forward very soon with a very, very rigorous reporting mechanism that will, in some senses, challenge the public—

L042-1100-8 follows

((Hon. George Smitherman)
 ... our partners at the Ontario Hospital Association, we intend to come forward very, very soon with a very, very rigorous reporting mechanism that will, in some senses, challenge the public because it will provide greater transparency about some of those challenges which occur. But we know it’s the right thing to do, and it will dramatically aid patient safety.

Infectious disease control

Ms. Laurie Scott: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker: The Minister of Health, in a response to my earlier question, made a statement about the official opposition’s support of Bill 171. I just wanted to tell the minister that we did, in fact, support Bill 171, and I’d ask him to please correct his record.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I’d just remind the member that ?? correct another member’s record.

Hon. George Smitherman: On the same point of order, Mr. Speaker: I would acknowledge the honourable member’s helpful intervention, acknowledge my error and apologize for it.