By Camille Bains
VANCOUVER (CP) - The federal government's medical wait-times guarantee agreement with the provinces and territories is a "meaningless" watered-down version of what the Tories promised before they were elected, health critics said Thursday.
"It's a cynical gimmick," said Mike McBane, spokesman for the Canadian Health Coalition. He said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's wait-list guarantee is "meaningless and voters should see through it" because the root causes of long waiting lists for treatment haven't been addressed.
Under an agreement announced with provinces and territories last week, each jurisdiction has promised to slash wait times by 2010 - but only in one key treatment area.
On Thursday, federal Health Minister Tony Clement told a news conference that wait-time guarantees focusing on one treatment area in each jurisdiction will allow provinces to network and share knowledge to strengthen the country's medical system.
But one of the Conservative party's main election promises last year was to have wait-time guarantees for five priority areas - cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacements and sight restoration.
Critics say the lack of doctors and nurses is the main issue behind long wait times.
"That's what Harper should be talking about if they're interested in reducing wait times," McBane said.
"You cannot leave it up to provinces to fix the causes of wait times alone," he said. "There has to be federal leadership but instead we're getting federal gimmicks and federal photo-ops."
Dr. Colin McMillan, president of the Canadian Medical Association, agreed.
"Our position is that you can set targets and goals and benchmarks but unless you have the resource capacity to deliver it in terms of health care professionals and infrastructure, you can't do it," McMillan said from Ottawa.
"What we're going to have to do, and this is our fundamental principle, is to have a made-in-Canada approach to self-sufficiency and the training, education and licensing of doctors and nurses to meet the needs of the population, not only today but also in the future."
He said wait-time guarantees are important, but they're secondary to "lack of capacity to deliver the service in the first place."
In a report last year, the federal wait-time adviser, Brian Postl, said the health-care system isn't ready to deliver care guarantees that would fund costs for patients to travel to another jurisdiction if they can't get timely care at home.
Postl also criticized the government for not delivering health-care more appropriately and focusing on just five areas for timely care while neglecting important diseases.
But the government released Postl's report on a Friday before the July long weekend and it didn't get much attention.
McMillan said some provinces are guaranteeing wait times for areas in which they are already reaching their own benchmarks.
For example, British Columbia is aiming to cut wait times for cancer radiation therapy so people get the service they need in eight weeks, although 97 per cent of people already get the treatment within four weeks.
Alberta is also focusing its wait-time guarantee on cancer radiation therapy as are other provinces, including New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba.
"British Columbia and Alberta are starting to network on some of these issues, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are starting to network and so on and so you really start to crate a truly national network when it comes to patient care, which is something that has eluded this country in the past," Clement said.
Clement said Ontario has promised to slash wait times for cataract surgeries, as has Quebec, which is also focusing on joint replacements.
The Saskatchewan government has said it will focus its wait-time guarantees on arterial bypass surgery while the territories say wait times will be reduced for primary care.
The wait-time guarantee agreement will cost the federal government an extra $600 million in one-time funding.
George Abbott, B.C.'s health minister, said that the province has some of the world's best outcomes for cancer care but chose to aim its wait-time guarantee on radiation therapy because cancer is one of the two leading causes of premature death, after heart disease.
"I think if we're going to work on an area let's build on an area where we have some strengths, let's build on an area where a lot of people face life-ending illnesses."
Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press
VANCOUVER (CP) - The federal government's medical wait-times guarantee agreement with the provinces and territories is a "meaningless" watered-down version of what the Tories promised before they were elected, health critics said Thursday.
"It's a cynical gimmick," said Mike McBane, spokesman for the Canadian Health Coalition. He said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's wait-list guarantee is "meaningless and voters should see through it" because the root causes of long waiting lists for treatment haven't been addressed.
Under an agreement announced with provinces and territories last week, each jurisdiction has promised to slash wait times by 2010 - but only in one key treatment area.
On Thursday, federal Health Minister Tony Clement told a news conference that wait-time guarantees focusing on one treatment area in each jurisdiction will allow provinces to network and share knowledge to strengthen the country's medical system.
But one of the Conservative party's main election promises last year was to have wait-time guarantees for five priority areas - cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging, joint replacements and sight restoration.
Critics say the lack of doctors and nurses is the main issue behind long wait times.
"That's what Harper should be talking about if they're interested in reducing wait times," McBane said.
"You cannot leave it up to provinces to fix the causes of wait times alone," he said. "There has to be federal leadership but instead we're getting federal gimmicks and federal photo-ops."
Dr. Colin McMillan, president of the Canadian Medical Association, agreed.
"Our position is that you can set targets and goals and benchmarks but unless you have the resource capacity to deliver it in terms of health care professionals and infrastructure, you can't do it," McMillan said from Ottawa.
"What we're going to have to do, and this is our fundamental principle, is to have a made-in-Canada approach to self-sufficiency and the training, education and licensing of doctors and nurses to meet the needs of the population, not only today but also in the future."
He said wait-time guarantees are important, but they're secondary to "lack of capacity to deliver the service in the first place."
In a report last year, the federal wait-time adviser, Brian Postl, said the health-care system isn't ready to deliver care guarantees that would fund costs for patients to travel to another jurisdiction if they can't get timely care at home.
Postl also criticized the government for not delivering health-care more appropriately and focusing on just five areas for timely care while neglecting important diseases.
But the government released Postl's report on a Friday before the July long weekend and it didn't get much attention.
McMillan said some provinces are guaranteeing wait times for areas in which they are already reaching their own benchmarks.
For example, British Columbia is aiming to cut wait times for cancer radiation therapy so people get the service they need in eight weeks, although 97 per cent of people already get the treatment within four weeks.
Alberta is also focusing its wait-time guarantee on cancer radiation therapy as are other provinces, including New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba.
"British Columbia and Alberta are starting to network on some of these issues, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are starting to network and so on and so you really start to crate a truly national network when it comes to patient care, which is something that has eluded this country in the past," Clement said.
Clement said Ontario has promised to slash wait times for cataract surgeries, as has Quebec, which is also focusing on joint replacements.
The Saskatchewan government has said it will focus its wait-time guarantees on arterial bypass surgery while the territories say wait times will be reduced for primary care.
The wait-time guarantee agreement will cost the federal government an extra $600 million in one-time funding.
George Abbott, B.C.'s health minister, said that the province has some of the world's best outcomes for cancer care but chose to aim its wait-time guarantee on radiation therapy because cancer is one of the two leading causes of premature death, after heart disease.
"I think if we're going to work on an area let's build on an area where we have some strengths, let's build on an area where a lot of people face life-ending illnesses."
Copyright © 2007 Canadian Press
