The wait-time agreements with the provinces require them to choose at least one of six priority surgeries (cancer care, hip and knee replacements, cardiac care, diagnostic imaging, cataract surgeries or primary care) and ensure that patients get care in that area within a medically acceptable period of time. Provinces must have this in place by 2010.
Ontario announced last week that it will guarantee cataract surgeries for patients within six months starting in 2009.
The $1-billion budget cheque that sealed the deal with the provinces and territories goes against Harper's election vow that Ottawa would shoulder none of the financial load for the initiative.
But it appears to be a price the Tories are willing to pay to try to fulfill a campaign commitment.
Harper's declaration of victory fell a bit flat with his audience of medical professionals.
"We are nowhere near the point where we can say `mission accomplished,'" said Dr. Chris Simpson, of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Health Minister Tony Clement tried to put a good spin on the announcement.
"Canadians know that politicians who say they can fix the health-care system tomorrow are snake-oil salesmen. They know that," he told reporters.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/199805
Note: http://www.thestar.com/...
1-Billion Budget Cheque
Posted on Thursday, April 05 at 15:21 by RuralContributed By
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Expect little from life and get more from it.
I must admit that part of the reason I posted this was to have the opportunity to have a good rant! Almost any mention of “wait time” guarantees gets me going, particularly when they are coupled with specialty surgery wait times, as they almost invariably are.
Whilst those waiting for eye or knee surgery may well indeed like to get it over in a timely manner there are many other procedures for conditions that are at least as debilitating or life altering not on the list. What of the wait times to get to the point of being diagnosed as requiring these procedures, what of the wait time of paramedics who have rushed a person to the emergency room only to have to watch over them for hours before hospital staff can take over. What of the wait time to see your family doctor (if you are able to “be accepted” by one) which I am told can be up to a month in some areas. I need an appointment, my right arm feels numb, woops, sorry too late, must have been the early signs of a stroke!
It is off little comfort to me that if I needed hip surgery I am “guaranteed” to get it within 6 months when I cannot get to see a doctor to even decide if I need such a procedure. Like many others I would have to attend an emergency room with what, by definition, is not an emergency but a chronic condition which a one time visit would not properly assess. Eventually I suppose one would be referred to a “specialist” and after some several assessments then go on the wait list.
Even more troubling is that 1000s of folk are doing much the same on a daily basis and it is this that is making it impossible for hospital emergency staff to cope with the influx in a timely manner. It is not as if we have a shortage of doctors in Canada. What, you say, what kind of medication are you on? I will say again we are not short of doctors in Canada, we are probably not even short of QUALIFIED doctors in Canada. We are short of qualified doctors that are ALOWED TO PRACTICE. If you have to wait to see that emergency room doctor consider asking that taxi driver from India or France or China or for that matter Great Britain about your condition. There is a good chance that he or she is a fully qualified doctor and perhaps has even passed all the necessary exams required to receive the rubber stamp from the College of Physicians and Surgeons but has, like hundreds of others been unable to get a “residency” placement in order to get the last little bit of BS behind them and actual practice their profession in this country.
Now I guess we all would like a doctor who was trained in Canada, is of our own ethnicity and whom we feel totally comfortable with, but I for one am not that picky. So long as he or she knows what they are doing and can and will communicate openly and clearly I don’t really care if they have little green antenna sprouting from their head and were born in a pond in the Sahara!
So lets forget this smoke and mirrors wait time BS and put the cash toward getting more doctors (and I don’t mean more bloody specialists) and nurses on the job where it counts ………………at the community level.
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When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp
Amen to that! It seems to be ignored that the waiting lists are not due to facilities, as it is to the lack of proffesionals to man them. The Comox Valley/Campbell River area had a proposal put before them. It was to buld a new hospital in a remote area. The new area was to be at the foot of Mount Washington. (The media neglected to mention that millions has been spent on the mountain to make it a mini-Whistler.) It was also ignored that the weather in the area of the proposed site, is typical of skiing conditions. In other words, if it snows, this will be the first place to get it. The new island highway runs passed the site as well and as typical planning dictates, access to the highway from the neighbouring community, is poorly planned. Staffing of the hospital would be from the two hospitals in Comox and Campbell River. The hospital in Cumberland had been down graded to a health facility only. Eventualy and after some bickering, the plan has been dropped. Facilities to accomodate the North Island is still being contemplated. Campbell River being further north then the Comox Valley should be on top of the list. IF the facilties will ever be made, it will not be made with any forethought.
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Expect little from life and get more from it.
Here we have just been blessed with a new LAHIN Local Area Health Integrated Network (or some such) whos mandate it is to see that the various heath services in the area are run efficiently and who decide who gets the cash. Sounds like a good idea at first but is increasingly looking like an excuse to REMOVE particular services from one hospital or community or another and centralize it in order to “save money” and make it “more efficient”. In a largely rural area 100 miles or so out of Toronto many community hospitals already do not provide such basic services as birthing and just about all “specialist” services are not provided locally. Judging from the constant flow of medivac flights over my house it is considered more “efficient” to ship patients to the nearest “major” heath center for trauma treatment also. As in many other areas out smaller hospitals have had great difficultly in providing 24hr emergency room access due to staffing constraints. Some communities do not even try, closing their emergency rooms overnight.
Meanwhile our councilors are being asked to provide tax dollars to a “doctor recruitment committee” so that potential doctors can be bribed to come to our community. Let the bidding war commence!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, provincial jurisdiction but national problem?
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When you are up to your ass in alligators it is difficult to remember that the initial objective was to drain the swamp