Agency nursing is not safe health care
This week’s edition of who-is-saying-what about public health care is compiled by Pat Van Horne.
Health Coalition Policy Director agrees single-payer, universal pharmacare is the way to go
“. . . According to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the impressive savings delivered by a single-payer pharmacare system come from three factors. The first is increased negotiating power to reduce list prices of drugs to the lowest in Canada. Second is universally applying confidential rebates negotiated by provinces that lower their drug prices. And third is the ability to impose universal generic and bio-similar policies, which avoid the higher-cost brand-name drugs. These are the benefits of a single-payer, universal system based upon our Canadian medicare . . .” – said Steven Staples, National Director of Policy and Advocacy, Canadian Health Coalition, The Hill Times, October 23, 2023
Truth and reconciliation: None of the seven Calls to Action dedicated to Indigenous health have been fully implemented
“In the healthcare system, there was so much racism. The Elders said, ‘we can’t tolerate this. We need to address these inequities.’ . . .When our people enter the doors of these health facilities…it’s still institutional. I still hear stories about mistreatment, about racism, about lack of care,” – said Warner Adam, Chief Executive Officer of Carrier Sekani Family Services, IndigiNews, October 18, 2023
Do it now: This could be the last chance for pharmacare, says Hoskins
“This is definitely our best chance. This may be our last chance in a while to produce legislation that will bring the most transformational change to health care that we’ve seen since the creation of Medicare. . . Perhaps now the (federal) government understands that if they want to have the NDP as an ally in the legislation, but also in terms of continuation of the (Confidence and Supply) Agreement, they need to negotiate language. ” -said former Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins. Toronto Star, October 22, 2023
Health Minister Holland still wishy-washy on pharmacare – at least so far
“We’ll see what the conversations yield, but I’m not at a point where I’m ready to offer something concrete.” – said Federal Health Minister Mark Holland. Toronto Star, October 19, 2023
‘Agency’ nursing is not safe health care
“These agency nurses are literally flown in and flown out. (It’s) breaking this continuing duty of care. This means patients are missing important nursing care. . . (Comparing nursing safety to airline passengers) pilots will have limits on how many hours they can do but there are no limits on hours nurses can do and mistakes, omissions and patient errors happen.” – said Linda Silas, president, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, CTV News, October 19, 2023
BC health workers take job action after years without a contract
“Members are tired,” said Meena Brisard, HEU’s secretary-business manager. “We just got through COVID. They’re exhausted, they work long hours. They are short-staffed and they want to be respected and have a reasonable deal.” – said Meena Brisard, secretary-business manager, Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) BC, CBC News, October 20,2023
Science Fiction or Capitalism: Amazon wants you to get/pay for your medication by drone (only in the U.S. – so far)
“Amazon says its drones will fly as high as 120 meters, or nearly 400 feet, before slowly descending when they reach the customer’s home. . . Amazon has been growing its presence in health care for a few years now. . .Aside from adding a pharmacy, it also spent nearly $4 billion to buy primary care provider One Medical. In August, the company added video telemedicine visits in all 50 states.” – CTV News and Associated Press, October 18, 2023
