Private clinics don’t meet provincial safety standards
According to a Toronto Star article published on Sunday Nov 2nd, thirteen per cent of health clinics in Ontario have not met inspection standards since they began in 2011.
In an analysis by the Star, not only did thirteen per cent of health clinics not meet provincial standards but this also includes the 3.6 per cent of clinics that have failed inspections because of public safety concerns.
Of the 330 clinics the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has inspected since 2011, 44 have not met standards. Twelve failed inspections and 33 were given conditional passes. To date, 440 inspections have been carried out on out-of-hospital clinics and three have had their results of inspections pending for more than a year, according to the Star investigation.
“The percentage of clinics that did not pass inspection without conditions should be setting off alarm bells. Imagine an airline industry where one in 10 planes does not pass scrutiny. The frequency and intensity of inspections needs to be immediately stepped up,” said medical negligence lawyer Paul Harte in the Star article.
These out-of-hospital clinics do procedures such as cosmetic surgery, colonoscopies and pain injections. These clinics do not have the same level of regulations as hospitals, and critics say this needs to change.
Although the focus of the study was on patient care, safe operation of a practice profoundly affects the safety in the workplace benefiting the safety of workers as well.