/PG/ Toronto, Ontario [Canada] (Signal High) for BadMedicine.Online —– Earlier this week, this writer was tasked to investigate a report that a hospital in Toronto, Ontario, was routinely losing critical patient data, and that this alleged incompetence had led to patients with serious heart conditions not receiving the proper follow-up care for their conditions. During the information gathering stage of this investigation, this writer uncovered an equally concerning phenomena that is worthy of a supplemental report.
Many say that Canadian hospitals make it impossible for people to contact them. This may sound like the ramblings of a frustrated journalist; however, a small inquiry into the matter has uncovered some staggering information.
The hospital that was to the be subject of the investigation is Trillium Health Partners at Mississauga, Ontario. It has been alleged in a report that critical test results were being mis-filed to “better manage medical resources.” This writer spent days trying to contact officials at this hospital with no success. More than thirty calls have been made, fourteen messages left over sixteen different extensions — no human contact. Calls were placed to other Canadian hospitals in the area to test their responsiveness, same experience. Lengthy automated recordings, extensions that don’t work and frequent disconnects due to “a high volume of calls.”
No wonder Canadians are frustrated with their medical care systems. Some would say that it isn’t so much about the quality of care that is frustrating them, it is the bureaucratic fiefdoms these publicly funded institutions have built around themselves, insulating them from any accountability whatsoever. This writer reached out to two nearby hospitals, Brampton Civic Hospital as well as Humber River Hospital, and found the same. By way of comparison, calls to Buffalo General, Mercy Hospital and Erie County were all answered by human operators within the first few rings.
While this goes to underscore the notion that Canadians are much more patient, polite and willing to subject to extraneous processes and queues, it doesn’t say much for the institutions. According to their own annual report [here], the Trillium Health Partners hospital employs 17,229 people, only 1,495 of which are medical personnel — eight percent. So ninety-two percent of the people employed at Trillium Health Partners at Mississauga are not there to treat patients. Why the Canadian ratepayers put up with this kind of bureaucracy is mind-blowing.
According to the reporting source, who works at that hospital, management deliberately makes it difficult for patients to access their personal medical information, make appointments and receive care. The source, who will not be identified in this article, said that hospital administrators often laugh that people get frustrated and give up, saying “it cuts on record keeping costs.” According to public source documents, Karri Farrow, the hospital chief executive, earned $668,325 in 2023. In 2022 she was given a 29% pay increase, and in 2021, a 34% raise. Farrow did not answer her phone for comment. This would simply not fly in the U.S.
The bottom line here is that we are quick to criticize our own medical care system and look to Canada as leaders in providing “free” care to their citizens, we really have to look at what they are getting — nothing — you get what you pay for.
This reporter will continue to investigate the matter of mis-filed medical reports and administrative incompetency. If you have information that would assist in this investigation, please contact mary.dunn@signalhigh.news.
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