Ontario Private Health Clinics
A few weeks ago, I had a very interesting question while
at the information desk. A patron had read an article from the Toronto Star
last year about private health clinics in Ontario that had failed inspection.
These clinics, officially called ‘out-of-hospital premises’, were providing
substandard care that placed patients at risk. However, due to a confidentiality
clause in the Regulated Health Professions Act the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario were not allowed to reveal
which clinics were unsafe.
A day after the article was published, Ontario Health
Minister Deb Matthews stated that the public had the right to know. After pressure from the Minister
and the public, a bylaw passed in January of this year
allowing the names of the failed clinics to be released to the public.
The patron was looking for this list. I found it on the College’s website.
It is an alphabetical list of all the private health clinics in Ontario, not only the substandard ones, and
includes the current inspection status and the inspection report.
I wasn’t aware of this report or issue until I was asked at the
information desk. We often get very interesting questions and learn quite a lot
from patrons while looking for information. And, I thought I would share what I found.
Similarly, there are books at the library that looks at Health Care
and Private Health Care in Canada:
If you have a question or need information on a topic, please come to any of our 98 library branches, call or chat with a librarian online. We would love to help and also learn something new along the way.
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