These meetings come four months after the country’s prime ministers met in Victoria to discuss the issues plaguing the healthcare system. The prime ministers had asked Justin Trudeau’s administration to increase federal health transfers, the money each province receives for health care, from 22% to 35%.
British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix said the extra money was needed as the province faced shortages of nurses and doctors and needed to increase access to digital healthcare, mental health and addiction services.
” We need the federal government as a partner in this. »
The Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association and HealthCareCANrepresenting various organizations and hospitals, also joined forces to call on health ministers to create incentives to retain health workers, including mental health support.
They are also calling for a pan-Canadian strategy to collect workforce data, make it easier for doctors to get admitted across the country where they are needed most, and increase access to primary health care and virtual visits.
dr Alika Lafontaine, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said the collapse in primary care due to rising costs is spreading to other areas of hospitals beyond emergency rooms and long-term care.
” We have fallen far short of demand for healthcare services in every region of the country. Thousands of surgeries have been postponed in Ontario. »
He hopes the meeting of health ministers will lead to nationwide collaboration.
Sylvain Brousseau, president of the Canadian Nurses Association, said undervalued nurses are leaving their jobs because their mental health is suffering from poor working conditions.
Due to the lack of clerical and cleaning staff, they are often entrusted with work that has nothing to do with their training.
Nurses do 48% of tasks unrelated to their job
he pointed out.
If you ask a nurse to clean the floor because someone is sick, that’s not their job
he pounded.
For Mr. Brousseau, the time of endless discussions between federal, provincial and territorial politicians over health care funding is over. We talked a lot. Now is the time to act.
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