Health files
This edition of Health files covers calls for an inquiry into the COVID-19 response, expanding health care for children, increased health care funding and better supports for ageing at home.
NDP calls for inquiry into COVID-19 response
“It’s time to have a proper, comprehensive, full examination of the federal preparedness and response. And the only way to do that is by calling an official inquiry. It’s to hold those who made decisions accountable, to learn from this unprecedented experience and to be better prepared for the future,” said Don Davies, NDP federal health critic, in iPolitics/Canadian Press, Nov. 14, 2022.
Building systems of care for growing child population
“It’s about building systems of care around kids’ needs and kids’ lives.
“We need to bolster the capacity we have, and we need to develop new models of care. So, for example we’ve created a new service in our mental health and addictions Program called ‘One call, one click’. It’s through our Kids Come First health team that brings together 24 mental health and addictions agencies.
“We’ve set up a couple of urgent care clinics … led by community pediatricians and family physicians, and that’s been really, really important for us in being able to give families an alternative to the emergency department … But almost all of these initiatives, certainly the urgent care clinics and the “One call, one click,” it’s all on temporary money. The additional beds that we have at the moment — all on temporary money,” stated Alex Munter, president and CEO of Childrens’ Hospital of Eastern Hospital, Ottawa, on CBC Radio’s White Coat, Black Art, Nov. 14, 2022.
Premiers want unconditional increase in Canada Health Transfer
“The premiers want an unconditional increase in the Canada Health Transfer sent to their finance ministers. That is not a plan. That is the old way of doing things. The current crisis is the undeniable proof that the old way doesn’t work,” said Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos on CBC, Nov. 13, 2022.
Adrienne Clarkson on ageing at home
“Why do we insist on delivering long-term care through long-term care homes, which already have problems getting good staff and maintaining their infrastructure? Why do we support long-term care provided by profit-making organizations for shareholders who are looking at the bottom line? When the bottom line is older people’s lives, this is morally unjustifiable,” stated Adrienne Clarkson, Honorary Chair of the Advisory Board for the National Institute on Ageing; former Governor General of Canada, in the Toronto Star, Nov. 4, 2022.
