We need a plan for health care in Ontario

Across Ontario – and certainly locally - the health care debate reigns supreme. Given the waiting lists and the million Ontarians without a doctor, the practice of simply throwing money at our collective health care problem is clearly not working - more dollars only count when they produce more results.

Leadership is lacking to create a unified plan for a healthier Ontario - from attracting and retaining the skilled professionals we need, to making the most out of every health care dollar.

We need a plan based on key principles - including timely, universal access and responsible growth in health spending.

Given that since 2003 fifty-per cent fewer doctors are accepting new patients in Ontario, one obvious area to start planning is that of skilled health professional training, recruitment and retention.

To that end, we require a comprehensive human resources plan - using the best planning and management to attract and retain skilled made-in-Ontario health workers.  This planning must include investment in training and education programs for health care professionals in under-serviced communities. The physician and specialist shortages in these areas must also be reduced using technology to improve access in rural and remote areas.

Further, ensuring more skilled medical health workers requires expansion of our medical schools capacity and perhaps deferral of loan payments for medical graduates during residency. We must also work to retain these same health care workers and give them flexible alternatives to retirement. Moreover, we must attract experienced doctors from outside Canada through a better system to recognize their foreign credentials, and create incentives for Canadian doctors to return.

As well, to further strengthen support for nurses we need a commitment to 70 per cent full-time employment for registered nurses in all sectors.

In addition to bolstering our front lines, any plan to ensure further access to services also must include increasing capacity by working with both public and private sector partners. As long as universal accessibility is always protected, and no one can buy access to better health care in Ontario, we should involve the private sector where there are opportunities to shorten waiting lists and improve access to publicly funded care.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, a progressive electronic-health (e-health) strategy is another key piece essential to comprehensive health care planning. Electronic health records – linked to an information management system – could both increase efficiency and access to health while improving the effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment.  While other provinces plug ahead with e-health programs, Ontario is falling behind.  Since 2002, Ontario’s taxpayers have poured $458 million into building electronic health records, and yet the McGuinty government has made very little progress in delivering an e-health strategy over his four years in office.

There is little doubt that without the dollars to help fund health-care improvements we will be spinning our wheels. But more dollars only count when they produce better outcomes. Through better planning we can target funding where it’s needed most – to high growth and underserved areas of the province – and fully fund health care without the current government’s regressive ‘health’ tax.

It’s time for leadership, and it’s time for a plan for a healthier Ontario. The status quo - no doctor, or no service when you need it - is not an option.