No muzzling patient watchdog: Province
PC critic will be free to speak ‘as she sees fit,’ health minister says
Ontario’s new patient watchdog won’t be muzzled, Health Minister Eric Hoskins says.
Health critic and former deputy Progressive Conservative leader Christine Elliott will make her reports public as Ontario’s first patient ombudsman and be free to criticize the government “as she sees fit,” Hoskins said Friday.
“She will speak with an independent voice and address the important issues related to the quality of care that patients in this province receive.
“She’s got the opportunity not only to respond to specific concerns of patients or their caregivers or families . . . but she also has the power and ability to launch, on her own, investigations of a broader nature.”
Prior to Elliott’s appointment to the $220,000-a-year post, the New Democrats were concerned that whoever ended up in the job would have their reports censored by the government.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said her party wishes Elliott well but will “continue to push for fully independent oversight of our health-care system,” such as by the provincial ombudsman, hired by an all-party committee of MPPs as an independent officer of the legislature.
“While we have often had a different perspective on how our healthcare system should work, we look forward to a good working relationship with Christine Elliott in her new role,” Horwath added in a statement.
Elliott, whose appointment takes effect July1, quit as MPP for Whitby-Oshawa in August following her loss to Patrick Brown in the PC leadership race in May.
In her role as Conservative health critic, Elliott was a high-profile advocate of better care for stroke victims and patients with rare diseases seeking taxpayer coverage of expensive medications, among other issues.
Hoskins noted Elliott is also a lawyer who worked years ago as an investigator for the provincial ombudsman.
“She’s got incredible qualifications.”
Elliott’s office will be away from the Health Ministry at the premises of Health Quality Ontario, an independent agency of government that monitors the effectiveness of the health-care system.