Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

McGuinty Government Committed To Applying Lessons Learned From SARS

Examining Final SARS Report To Strengthen Public Health System And
    Protect Frontline Workers

    TORONTO, Jan. 9 — The McGuinty government will use Mr. Justice
Archie Campbell's final report on SARS to help further strengthen public
health and better protect Ontarians and health care workers, Health and
Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman and Labour Minister Steve Peters
said today.
    Mr. Justice Archie Campbell, who was commissioned to investigate the
outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Ontario four years
ago, released his third and final report today.
    "The contributions of countless health professionals who helped us cope
with SARS will never be forgotten," said Smitherman. "It is our job as
government to learn from the experience and ensure we will be able to respond
rapidly and effectively to any health emergencies. That's why we have heeded
Justice Campbell's advice to date and we will do so again as we continue to
better protect Ontarians and health care workers."
    "Ontario's nurses can be assured that their safety is a priority for this
government," Smitherman added. "As we apply the lessons learned from SARS we
must honour those lives lost in the duty of service to Ontarians."
    "We value the hard work and dedication of the approximately 500,000
health care workers who are on the front lines protecting us each and every
day," said Peters. "Our government is committed to ensuring the health and
safety of everyone who works in this province and we will carefully assess the
recommendations put forward on protecting health care workers."
    The third and final Campbell report explores the SARS crisis and future
public health emergencies, and makes recommendations focusing, in particular,
on health worker safety and strengthening the public health system.
    Since the SARS crisis, the government has made significant progress in
improving the health and safety of workers in the province, including the
appointment of a new, permanent health and safety advisory committee under the
Occupational Health and Safety Act to provide practical advice and
recommendations on the unique occupational health and safety issues of health
care workers to ensure they are protected. This committee, announced in
September 2006, is made up of representatives of health care employers and
unions.

    Other improvements the government has made to public health, including
those in direct response to Campbell's interim reports, are:

    

 — Passing legislation to make the Chief Medical Officer of Health
        (CMOH) more independent
 — Increasing funding to local public health units by more than 65 per
        cent, from $266 million in 2003 to $442 million in 2006.
 — Establishing the Provincial Infectious Disease Advisory Committee to
        advise the CMOH on the prevention, surveillance and control of
        infectious diseases. A Ministry of Labour representative and an
        additional occupational health physician sit on the committee.
 — Creating the Emergency Management Unit in response to SARS and the
        power outage of 2003, and improving communications between the
        ministry and health care stakeholders, including front line staff, at
        the time of a health crisis.
 — Passing the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act in June
        2006, which provided additional powers to support the government's
        ability to respond in a provincial emergency
 — Making Ontario a leader in pandemic preparedness through emergency
        planning, stockpiling antivirals, supplies and equipment, and
        distributing more than 15,000 infection control kits to front line
        health care providers.
 — Working to supply N95 masks to front line health care workers to
        increase protection during an infectious disease outbreak

    Furthermore, through changes in the Health System Improvements Bill
introduced in December, 2006, the government proposes to:

 — Establish Ontario's first Health Protection and Promotion Agency
        modelled after the Centres for Disease Control to provide specialized
        scientific and technical advice and support to government, front-line
        health care workers and public health units
 — Allow the government to ensure the more efficient and effective
        distribution of medical supplies during a public health emergency
 — Provide the CMOH with public health emergency powers where there is
        an immediate risk to health
 — Provide local medical officers of health with the power to monitor,
        investigate and respond to an outbreak of a communicable disease in a
        hospital or institution.

    This news release, along with other media materials, such as matte stories
and audio clips, on other subjects, are available on our website at:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca under the News Media section.

    For more information on achievements in health care, visit:
www.resultsontario.gov.on.ca.

    Disponible en français.


    Backgrounder

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    MCGUINTY GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED FROM SARS

    Examining Final SARS Report To Strengthen Public Health System And
    Protect Frontline Workers

    The Campbell commission, chaired by Justice Archie Campbell, was
established in June 2003 to investigate how the SARS virus came to Ontario,
how the virus spread, and how the province's health system responded.

    First Interim Report

    The commission's first interim report (April 2004) outlined what happened,
what lessons were learned, and what improvements should be made to Ontario's
public health system.

    Based on the first report's recommendations, the provincial government has
implemented many changes, including:

 — Making the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) more independent
 — Promoting disease prevention and control through establishing the
        Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee, creating Regional
        Infection Control Networks to coordinate infection prevention and
        control activities and funding more than 110 Infection Control
        Practitioners
 — Increasing the province's share of public health funding from 50 to
        75 per cent effective January 1, 2007
 — Establishing the Capacity Review Committee to examine many issues
        raised by Justice Campbell such as local health unit governance,
        accountability, structure and capacity issues

    Second Interim Report

    The commission's second interim report was released in April 2005. It
focused on changes to the legislative framework for public health (the Health
Protection and Promotion Act) as well as discussing Bill 138, the predecessor
to the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. This report identified
key gaps in the province's capacity to quickly respond and manage public
health emergencies.
    The government responded through Health System Improvements Bill
(introduced in December 2006) with a series of changes to address those gaps
and ensure Ontario has a health care system that is ready and able to respond
in the event of a public health emergency. The changes would:

 — Establish Ontario's first Health Protection and Promotion Agency
        modelled after the Centres for Disease Control to provide specialized
        scientific and technical advice and support to government, front-line
        health care workers and public health units
 — Allow the government to ensure more efficient and effective
        distribution of medical supplies (including antitoxins, antivirals,
        antibiotics) where there is an immediate risk to health in a public
        health emergency, and regular procurement processes are unable to
        meet the needs of Ontarians.
 — Provide Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health with public health
        emergency powers to issue directives to health care providers
        concerning precautions and procedures, and where there is an
        immediate and serious risk to also:
 — order health care providers to provide information required to
           help the CMOH investigate and manage risks to human health; and
 — collect, retain and use pre-existing laboratory specimens to
           investigate, eliminate or reduce the risk to health
 — Provide Medical Officers of Health with the power to monitor,
        investigate and respond to an outbreak of communicable disease in
        hospitals or institutions, and to notify a hospital or institution
        where a communicable disease may have been acquired but not
        previously reported
 — Enable the Chief Medical Officer of Health to appoint Medical
        Officers of Health and Associate Medical Officers of Health who could
        be deployed to a specific part of the province in the event of a risk
        to the health of the public

    Improving Worker Health and Safety

    The government has also made significant progress in improving the health
and safety of workers in the province since the SARS crisis, including:

 — A new, permanent health and safety advisory committee under the
        Occupational Health and Safety Act to provide practical advice and
        recommendations on the unique occupational health and safety issues
        of health care workers to ensure they are protected. This committee
        is made up of representatives of health care employers and unions

 — Hiring 200 additional health and safety inspectors, increasing the
        overall complement to 430 inspectors across the province. This
        addition includes inspectors dedicated to the health care sector who
        work with the industrial sector inspectors in inspecting health care
        facilities

 — All 233 Ministry of Labour industrial sector inspectors and
        hygienists have now received extensive training on the Health Care
        and Residential Facilities Regulation under the Occupational Health
        and Safety Act, which includes training on infection control measures
        and procedures to protect workers. This means that more than 50 per
        cent of ministry health and safety inspectors are qualified to
        inspect health care facilities

 — Inspecting all acute care facilities and selected long-term care
        homes in Ontario. Currently, the plan includes inspections of all
        health care facilities identified as high-risk and additional
        inspections of selected acute care and community health care
        facilities, and long-term care homes. As a result, the government has
        better capacity to handle future health care crises and emergencies,
        such as pandemic influenza that may affect the health care sector.

 — The Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care,
        the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, the Ontario Safety
        Association for Community and Health Care and other partners are
        working together to address health and safety issues in the health
        care sector such as personal protective equipment for health care
        workers.

    Disponible en français.

                             www.health.gov.on.ca
    

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