A tale of two countries offers lessons for Ontario: new academic reports show Scotland’s public hospitals outperformed England’s privatization scheme to deliver surgeries

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the early 2000s, the Labour government in England began contracting out hospital surgeries to for-profit facilities with the stated policy objective of reducing wait-times. Currently, the private sector is the main provider of hip, knee and cataract surgeries in the country.

During the same period, the Scotland government took a different approach: it brought a private hospital under public ownership in 2003 as it prioritized public provision of health care services with minimal contracting out.

Two new academic reports co-authored by Professor Allyson Pollock, illustrate the benefits of the Scottish approach, which made more efficient use of tax dollars and provided care on an egalitarian basis that prioritized people’s needs over their affluence. In England, privatization benefitted the wealthy while the majority suffered as resources were drained from the public system.

These reports offer lessons for Ontario, which is comparatively in the initial stages of its hospital privatization plan and has used the same rationale to contract out cataract, hip, and knee surgeries.

On Monday, Pollock will be joined at Queen’s Park by OCHU-CUPE president Michael Hurley and Ontario Health Coalition executive director to reveal detailed findings of these academic studies and offer lessons for Ontario.

Who:
Allyson Pollock, professor emerita at Newcastle University
Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition
Michael Hurley, president of OCHU-CUPE

What:
Media conference to release new reports on hospital privatization in England and Scotland

Where:
Queen’s Park media studio, Toronto

When:
10 a.m. on Monday, November 10

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