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PRINCE GEORGE
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Health report pleases medical sector
Romanow study ‘short on specifics’ but ‘high on flexibility,’ doctors say
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
Northern Health Authority officials say they are pleased with the findings from the Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada.
“At first glance, we’re pleased Romanow has recognized the need for special attention to be paid to providing rural areas with better access to care,” CEO Malcolm Maxwell said.
“This may involve new uses of tele-health and tele-medicine technologies, and new roles for health professionals such as nurse practitioners.”
Another highlight for the NHA is Romanow’s recognition for stronger partnerships with Aboriginal organizations to improve health standards among First Nations people.
Although the NHA already provides funding for specific Aboriginal health initiatives, Maxwell said he welcomes new opportunities in this area.
NHA board chair Harry Gairns said he’s pleased with the recommendations to increase numbers of health professionals.
He said the Northern Medical Program is a good example of how senior governments can play an active role in strengthening the health system outside major cities.
NHA officials expect there will be a lot of discussion between federal and provincial governments before the exact impact of the report on Northern B.C. will be clear.
Chris Allnutt, secretary business manager of the Hospital Employees Union, praises the report for its
rejection of private health care “based on evidence and discussions with ordinary Canadians committed to the equity principles that underlie medicare.” His one concern is that Romanow’s report portrays a “hands-off attitude towards the delivery of other critical hospital functions like cleaning, laundry and food services — areas in which Romanow did not study in detail.”
Romanow’s report is being endorsed by the 600 new resident doctors across Canada, said Hanis Chatur of Prince George, president of Professional Residents Association of B.C.
“We like his prescription and we can fulfil this mandate as long as we continue to engage in dialogue. Although we find the report short on specifics, we assume it’s high on flexibility.”
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
DECORATING THE TREES — Bob Elmore prunes an elm tree in front of City Hall and replaces burned-out light bulbs in time for the Christmas season.
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Local leaders praise health report results
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
The Roy Romanow report on the future of health care in Canada, released Thursday is scoring high marks from a number of Prince George leaders.
Mayor Colin Kinsley, chair for the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health, said the report’s section on rural and remote health comes close to recommendations submitted by his committee.
“This report is great news. The roles that Prince George Regional Hospital and UNBC can play are huge,” said Kinsley.
Romanow’s focus on a rural and remote centre for health innovation is a perfect fit for Prince George and UNBC, said Kinsley.
“Another thing that is a perfect fit for Prince George are the steps recommended to provide a mix of health-care providers to meet health-care needs and to ensure people in small communities have access to these skilled people.”
The report’s recommendation to provide $1.5 billion to establish a rural and remote access fund may provide new opportunities to improve the health status of northern and rural communities.
The new fund would be used to recruit and retain health-care providers, expand rural experiences during education of doctors and nurses, expand re-
search and development in telehealth, and support innovative ways of delivering health services in rural and remote communities.
“Telehealth can probably recruit more people by connectivity because they’ll be more inclined to go into rural areas where they will no longer be cut off from the outside world,” said Kinsley.
Rural health researchers at UNBC say Romanow’s report mirrors much of UN-BC’s focus on health education and research.
“For example, the Northern medical program, a new initiative to train physicians in die North, will have rural placements as a key part of the curriculum,” said Max Blouw, vice-president of research at UNBC.
The report also focuses on many of the same issues that research at UNBC has been focusing on, said Blouw. The findings that residents in remote areas are the least healthy in Canada is linked to disparities in access to health care, and contribute to cancer, injury-related deaths and total mortality in rural areas.
“In a variety of ways UNBC has been addressing the health issues of rural communities, but we can play a larger role with added federal funding,” Blouw said. “It’s absolutely essential to train health professionals who have the desire and skills to work in rural communities.”
MLA Paul Nettleton (Independent Liberal Prince George-Omineca) said he’s pleased with Romanow’s health report, which targets funding of $15 billion over the next four years to fix Canada’s health-care system.
“Forty years ago parliamentarians in Ottawa unanimously embraced medicare and rejected private health care, and most British Columbians don’t want two levels of service — one for the rich and another for the not-so-rich,” he said.
“Romanow advocates we stay away from private health care, and encourages parliamentarians to spend $15 billion to ensure the medicare we’ve enjoyed will be there for the foreseeable future.
“What distinguishes our system from others, particularly the U.S., is that it allows everyone to access the same level of service,” said Nettleton, whose opinion is shared by Melinda Worfolk, spokesperson for the Active Voice Coalition.
“One of the important points is that he highlights the importance of a public system of health care as opposed to private,” said Worfolk.
“Another positive aspect is that he focused on rural and remote and Aboriginal health care, and that’s important to a place like Prince George,” said Worfolk.
He said it’s important to realize there’s a critical shortage of medical professionals and we need to continue training programs.”
George Heyman, president of B.C. Government and Services Employees Union, said recommendations to provide funding for post-acute care, mental health and palliative care at home are welcome, but he’s disappointed there’s no immediate funding targeted to home support services for the elderly and disabled.
The Massage Therapists Association of B.C. support the report, saying Romanow’s recognition of supplementary health care is one of the keys to crafting a truly sustainable system.
—See editorial cmd column on page 4; morn stories on pages 6 and 33
MP pans Romanow findings
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff
Canadian Alliance MP Dick Harris (Prince George-Bulkley Valley) is among the few who are not happy with the Romanow report on health.
Harris describes it as a “trip back to the ‘60s," which offers no solutions to the problems plaguing Canada’s healthcare system in the 21st century.
“Simply throwing more money at the status quo is not the answer,” said Harris.
He said instead of coming up with new and innovative ideas to fix the system, Romanow “chose to retreat to die origins of public health care over 40 years old.”
Harris said it would have been a major move forward to involve public/private partnerships (P3s) “which would allow hospital boards to get out of the infrastructure business and direct funds used for buildings and equipment to funding for doctors, nurses and medical specialists in every area of health care.” Harris said anyone who needs health care doesn’t care who owns the hospital or the bed. “They ... want to receive quality care when they need it under their public health care coverage.”
He said the report offers “only vague promises with no guarantees except a guarantee of more federal bureaucracy to intrude on the jurisdiction of the provincial governments, and that bird will not fly.”
HIGHLIGHTS
■ Expand medicare with $15 billion extra through 2005-06.
■ Ensure Ottawa funds a minimum of 25 per cent of insured health services, $6.5 billion more.
■ Spend $1.5 billion over two years to improve access to care in rural areas.
■ Spend $1.5 billion over two years to improve wait times for diagnostic services.
■ Support primary care delivery with $2.5 billion over two years.
■ Start national home care program with $2 billion over two years.
■ Help people needing expensive drugs with $1 billion in 2004-05.
■ Create Health Council of Canada to set benchmarks for care and ways to measure performance.
■ Establish Canadian Health Covenant outlining responsibilities of citizens, health providers and governments.
■ Consolidate native health funding.
II Co-ordinate waiting lists to reduce wait times.
■ Create an electronic database of personal health records.
■ Examine drug patents to reduce costs.
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