Niagara Health System
Encyclopedia
The Niagara Health System (NHS) is Ontario
's largest multi-site hospital amalgamation, comprising the following seven sites serving 434,000 residents across the 12 municipalities making up the Regional Municipality of Niagara, Canada
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The NHS has almost 900 Acute Care, Complex Continuing Care, Mental Health, Long Term Care and Addiction Treatment beds. A wide range of inpatient and outpatient clinics/services are provided at seven sites. The NHS has 4,154 employees, 599 physicians and 1,100 volunteers, with an annual operating budget of approximately $400 million.
NHS has been under an Ontario Nurses Association censure since February 2003. According to a Ontario Nurses Association press release in June 2007, Censuring is ONA's nation-wide public reproach of a health agency due to; the negative impact on staff and patient care, of poor labour relations and administrative practices.
In October 2008, the Niagara Health System Medical Staff Association passed a non-confidence vote in the NHS leadership by a vote of 136 to 76.
On May 17, 2010 the Ontario Health Coalition
after conducting public hearings in March 2010 issued a report calling on the provincial government to send an investigator to the Niagara Health System stating the following reasons:
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
's largest multi-site hospital amalgamation, comprising the following seven sites serving 434,000 residents across the 12 municipalities making up the Regional Municipality of Niagara, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
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- Douglas Memorial Site in Fort Erie
- Greater Niagara General Site in Niagara Falls
- Niagara-on-the-Lake Site
- Ontario Street Site in St. Catharines
- Port Colborne Site
- St. Catharines General Site
- Welland Site
The NHS has almost 900 Acute Care, Complex Continuing Care, Mental Health, Long Term Care and Addiction Treatment beds. A wide range of inpatient and outpatient clinics/services are provided at seven sites. The NHS has 4,154 employees, 599 physicians and 1,100 volunteers, with an annual operating budget of approximately $400 million.
Controversies
Since it's inception the NHS has been involved in several noteworthy controversies.NHS has been under an Ontario Nurses Association censure since February 2003. According to a Ontario Nurses Association press release in June 2007, Censuring is ONA's nation-wide public reproach of a health agency due to; the negative impact on staff and patient care, of poor labour relations and administrative practices.
In October 2008, the Niagara Health System Medical Staff Association passed a non-confidence vote in the NHS leadership by a vote of 136 to 76.
On May 17, 2010 the Ontario Health Coalition
Ontario Health Coalition
The Ontario Health Coalition is a network of grassroots community organizations representing the province of Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Health Coalition is a non-partisan organisation committed to maintaining and enhancing Canada's publicly-funded, publicly-administered health care system.In...
after conducting public hearings in March 2010 issued a report calling on the provincial government to send an investigator to the Niagara Health System stating the following reasons:
Witnesses in Niagara described the poorest access to hospital beds and emergency department care of all the regions we visited. Cuts have been and are being implemented without any protections for resident access to care and without funding agreements, functional protocols and enablers in place. This panel observes that hospital care in Niagara is chaotic, perilously short-staffed and under-resourced. The hospital system has lost public confidence.