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6 Independent & Free Press,Thursday, May 6, 2010 OPINION Waste of paper The Province has introduced the Excellent Care for All Act designed to make us all breathe a little easier when we are faced with having to enter hospital-- whether planned or due to an emergency. Apparently in Ontario we need a piece of legislation that will "foster a culture of continuous quality improvement where the needs of patients come first," according to the Province's website. Wow, it's a good job the Province is working on this as we were under the misguided impression that the needs of patients were supposed to come first. Some corners of the health care sector are positively gushing over this proposed legislation. "We believe that this new proposed legislation will provide hospitals boards, executives and health professionals with the clarity and tools they need to meet the public's increasing expectations regarding quality, patient safety and accountability," said Ontario Hospital Association Board Chair Dr. Kevin Smith. Don't get us wrong, we are all for better health care. However, we find it incredibly frustrating that we need yet another piece of legislation telling people they should be doing their jobs properly. The proposed legislation includes: · Quality committees, which would report to the hospital board of directors on quality-related issues (the government's words, not ours) · Annual quality improvement plans where each hospital would be required to create and publicly post a plan. · Executive compensation that would be required to be linked to achieving improvements set out in the annual quality improvement plan. We like this idea, but why is it not in place right now-- like any other business? If your CEO is doing a good job, reward him/her, if not, find another one. · Patient relations process to address patient, client and caregiver relations. We need a `patient relations process'? Whatever happened to a hospital ombudsman or staff simply in charge of patient care? The list goes on. The decline in health care is nothing new-- from wait times to lack of beds to overflowing ERs to lack of physicians-- our health care system has been on life support for years. It will take more than the Excellent Care for All Act to right this mess. However, we're sure the politicians like the name. 905-873-0301 Publisher: Ken Nugent General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@independentfreepress.com) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@independentfreepress.com) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@independentfreepress.com) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@independentfreepress.com) Classifieds Kristie Pells (classified@independentfreepress.com) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@independentfreepress.com) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@independentfreepress.com) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@independentfreepress.com) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@independentfreepress.com) WEB POLL RESULTS Toronto council will be considering a proposal to allow shopping at all stores on every statutory holiday, including Christmas. Would you support a similar Ontario-wide plan that allows for shopping on all holidays? · Yes (27%) · No (73%) Go to www.independentfreepress.com Steve Nease And the water! When I first got here my water bill was $12 a month. Now it's almost 10 times that-- and I don't have a pool! My hydro bill costs me almost a month's salary with my part-time job, which was supposed to be for a little pocket money on top of my pension-- not just to stop me from freezing in the winter. On its own it doesn't sound too bad but when you add 4 per cent taxes, or whatever it is, 8 per cent on gasoline, 8 per cent on natural gas, food skyrocketing because it rained in Timbuktoo last year, etc.-- it's becoming impossible to make ends meet, especially when you are on a fixed pension. I guess I'll have to move in with Clifford Olsen. He gets looked after better than I do. McGuinty says the HST is revenue neutral. Revenue neutral to who? Not to me! I'm in reverse moving backwards at an alarming rate of speed. If it is revenue neutral then why mess with it? Leave it the heck alone. He says it will create 500,000 jobs. Just what we need, 500,000 more bureaucrats to support. If he does much more of this we won't be able to afford him. John Tatham, Georgetown Letters to the editor Rising costs are hard to swallow Dear editor, I just got my hydro bill. This insanity has to stop. We got rid of the hot tub because it was costing too much to run. We enjoyed it while we could afford it. Those days are over. We got rid of the big freezer and bought a much smaller one. I use those squiggly light bulbs that do NOT last five years and take forever to warm up. I cut back drastically on Christmas lights. I have a satellite switch on my water heater that was supposed to save me money. I pay a delivery charge and a regulatory charge. What the heck is that? Shouldn't that be covered by the electricity charge? If not, then what the heck does the electricity charge cover? And as for the "debt retirement charge" when will that ever end? I didn't put us in debt. Executive buyouts in the millions of dollars did that. I can't wait for July 1 when another 8 per cent gets tacked on top of that. I only have a small bungalow. Supporters thanked Dear editor, The organizers of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton Bowl for Kids Event thank Mayor Bonnette and the local community for the support we received at this year's Mayor's Bowling Challenge at Georgetown Bowl. Former Toronto Argonaut and TSN broadcaster Matt Dunigan also attended the event. Local teams from CIBC, the Lions Club of Georgetown, Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce, Fraser Direct, Johnson Associates Real Estate Ltd., Patlon Air Craft Industries, GMA LLP Chartered, Halton Hills Hydro and longtime supporters John Henderson and Jamie Cunningham of Norval Presbyterian Church joined a team championed by Mayor Bonnette and raised a record $10,000. All money will be directed toward local children enrolled in Big Brother Big Sister mentoring programs and 10 children will have an opportunity to attend summer camp thanks to this remarkable fundraising effort. Our heartfelt thanks to all the teams and supporters and the mayor for making this year's event the best ever. Kristin Vanderwater and Susan Coyne, event organizers Letters to the editor policy Letters must include an address and daytime telephone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. E-mail: jmcghie@independentfreepress.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. The Independent & Free Press The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. 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