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Confidential report shows lack of mental health services

Prepared for the ministry of health and obtained by OPSEU under Ontario freedom of information laws

 

Kingston (3 Nov. 2006) - The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) has released important confidential information showing serious shortcomings in mental health services in Ontario.

Obtained using provincial freedom of information laws, the documentation obtained by the union reveals that:

  • a lack of community services has caused delays in discharging patients from psychiatric hospitals;
  • St. Joseph’s Health Care (SJHC) in London has aggressively cut beds for people with serious mental illness despite the lack of community programs;
  • mental health beds at Providence Continuing Care Centre (PCCC) in Kingston are over capacity because a lack of community services is preventing the discharge of patients; and
  • the lack of community services is preventing the discharge of patients from Brockville Psychiatric Hospital (BPH).

Dated March 2006, the report was prepared by the Deloitte consulting group for the Ontario ministry of health. Detail accounts of the information are now available on the OPSEU web site at the links listed below. NUPGE

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