(Aired on August 24, 2010)
It is the perfect storm. It's been coming for some time. I wasn't the first to talk about it years ago, but I have said many times over the years the health care system is in jeopardy and needs to be overhauled. And a new Ipsos-Reid survey out this week shows most Canadians are starting to get the picture. It's taken them a long time to understand just how bad it is, but the new survey shows they're getting the message.
The new poll shows that most people perceived no improvement in health care. Younger adults anticipate going into debt to pay for their health care. Boomers, otherwise known as the Silver Tsunami, are becoming more and more reliant, pointing out just how tough it's going to be. The poll showed 80% fear the system will buckle and maybe even fail under the growing pressure. It says 80% nationally give the health system a grade of A, but few think that will continue.
Doctors have said for some time they are not crying wolf-that the health system is in disarray. Maybe more of the people nationwide who feel the same will start to put the pressure on the government to do something. Some suggest user fees rather than higher taxes. I've advocated user fees for 20 years. Interestingly enough, the survey showed British Columbians last or second last in their confidence level in health care. The only other province was Quebec, where 2.5 million people in that province are without a regular family doctor, out of a population of 7.5 million. Over a quarter of the population.
B.C. rates virtually last in rating the health care experience, only 25% of us gave a good grade for services available, and only 17% gave health care providers a good grade. That should be something for Gordon Campbell and the Liberals to take under serious advisement. If the economic downturn didn't hit B.C. as bad as other provinces, why can't we do better?
It's been obvious for a long time that something needs to be done. The general population finally seems to be getting the message. Now let's see if we can convince the politicians.
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Air Ambulance Idea Overdue
(Aired on August 5, 2010)
A new air ambulance service will soon be in place, dedicated to helping move seriously ill patients from rural areas to hospitals in larger centres. It's an idea whose time is long overdue.
The air ambulance service has been in place before, but not, perhaps, in such a dedicated way. The service announced late last month involves transporting patients by helicopter to larger hospitals like Royal Inland. While there will be no dedicated helicopters devoted specifically to this initiative, several companies contracted by the province will be able to provide the service. They'll transport paramedics to the accident site, allow the paramedics to provide treatment, then transport the patients if necessary to trauma centres for followup.
The only real criticism I have is the fact that the government is only going to try this out for 8 weeks. If it's effective, it will become a full time deal. But I wonder how you can honestly say two months is long enough. If the summer causes more cases because more accidents happen in the summer, will that give a false reading? Would we keep the service based on false numbers? Conversely, would we deny keeping the service because the next 8 weeks are relatively slow, with many gone outside the area for holidays. A minimum of six months for any type of study is about the least we should be putting in place for a fair assessment.
I can't see the cost being overly excessive. Let's face it, if we're contracting out these companies on a per-trip basis, it can't be that huge unless there are actual cases to deal with. Let's do the survey right, and make sure it's working or not working before we make a final decision. I think that's the least we can do. Otherwise we're just paying lip service to a very valuable aid in keeping people alive.
A new air ambulance service will soon be in place, dedicated to helping move seriously ill patients from rural areas to hospitals in larger centres. It's an idea whose time is long overdue.
The air ambulance service has been in place before, but not, perhaps, in such a dedicated way. The service announced late last month involves transporting patients by helicopter to larger hospitals like Royal Inland. While there will be no dedicated helicopters devoted specifically to this initiative, several companies contracted by the province will be able to provide the service. They'll transport paramedics to the accident site, allow the paramedics to provide treatment, then transport the patients if necessary to trauma centres for followup.
The only real criticism I have is the fact that the government is only going to try this out for 8 weeks. If it's effective, it will become a full time deal. But I wonder how you can honestly say two months is long enough. If the summer causes more cases because more accidents happen in the summer, will that give a false reading? Would we keep the service based on false numbers? Conversely, would we deny keeping the service because the next 8 weeks are relatively slow, with many gone outside the area for holidays. A minimum of six months for any type of study is about the least we should be putting in place for a fair assessment.
I can't see the cost being overly excessive. Let's face it, if we're contracting out these companies on a per-trip basis, it can't be that huge unless there are actual cases to deal with. Let's do the survey right, and make sure it's working or not working before we make a final decision. I think that's the least we can do. Otherwise we're just paying lip service to a very valuable aid in keeping people alive.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
U of R Health Care Study Damning, Not Surprising
(Aired on July 12, 2010)
Should it come as any surprise that Kamloops is rated as the health area with the lowest rating in the country? I don't know if I totally agree with the results of a study out today by the University of Regina, but it clearly indicates that health care in B.C. isn't rated very highly.
This study looked at availability of services, level of care and patient satisfaction. I've said for years that we have to totally revamp health care. I think the province has done some things, but most of them seem to have been done to cut costs and not to better health care. If we can change where we put the money to provide better care, all well and good. But that's not the sense I get of what's happening.
I know from personal experience that wait times are very frustrating. I've experienced that, and I can only guess that this kind of thing certainly leads to the patient dissatisfaction mentioned in the survey. But wait times aren't confined to B.C. So there must be other things that were surveyed that didn't pan out well.
Whether you believe the results of the survey or not, there's no question that the health care system is broken, and needs fixing. When surgeries are postponed because you don't have good enough equipment to properly sterilize surgical tools, when you can't get a procedure done because we don't have enough operating rooms functioning, when you can't get to see a specialist and even when you do they can't do anything for you because they don't have operating times, when you hear reports of the hospital being dirty because they don't have enough support staff, when you can't get into the ER because they don't have enough staff to process you, when you can't get care in rural areas because they don't have enough doctors, is it any wonder that we rate so low?
We aren't alone in the province. New West and Burnaby rate just as poorly for larger centers and even places where doctors want to settle, like Abbotsford and Chilliwack, fared poorly. It's a state reflection of our level of care when we're so badly thought of. I'm not confident the government will take notice or even care about the report, but perhaps with some pressure, they can do what needs to be done. And that's conduct a major overhaul.
Should it come as any surprise that Kamloops is rated as the health area with the lowest rating in the country? I don't know if I totally agree with the results of a study out today by the University of Regina, but it clearly indicates that health care in B.C. isn't rated very highly.
This study looked at availability of services, level of care and patient satisfaction. I've said for years that we have to totally revamp health care. I think the province has done some things, but most of them seem to have been done to cut costs and not to better health care. If we can change where we put the money to provide better care, all well and good. But that's not the sense I get of what's happening.
I know from personal experience that wait times are very frustrating. I've experienced that, and I can only guess that this kind of thing certainly leads to the patient dissatisfaction mentioned in the survey. But wait times aren't confined to B.C. So there must be other things that were surveyed that didn't pan out well.
Whether you believe the results of the survey or not, there's no question that the health care system is broken, and needs fixing. When surgeries are postponed because you don't have good enough equipment to properly sterilize surgical tools, when you can't get a procedure done because we don't have enough operating rooms functioning, when you can't get to see a specialist and even when you do they can't do anything for you because they don't have operating times, when you hear reports of the hospital being dirty because they don't have enough support staff, when you can't get into the ER because they don't have enough staff to process you, when you can't get care in rural areas because they don't have enough doctors, is it any wonder that we rate so low?
We aren't alone in the province. New West and Burnaby rate just as poorly for larger centers and even places where doctors want to settle, like Abbotsford and Chilliwack, fared poorly. It's a state reflection of our level of care when we're so badly thought of. I'm not confident the government will take notice or even care about the report, but perhaps with some pressure, they can do what needs to be done. And that's conduct a major overhaul.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Actually, Money IS the Answer
(Aired on May 10, 2010)
Small town medicine has been much in the news lately. A number of communities around Kamloops are searching for doctors to fill vacancies. It's not an easy problem to resolve, and it's not going to get any easier. The reality is, I don't think the problem will be resolved until the government realizes people aren't going to go to small towns unless they get paid, and get paid well. They aren't going to go to a place where they get burned out and are on call 24/7 and get relatively little compensation.
We tried years ago to regulate new doctors and force them to work in smaller communities when they first got out of school. Didn't work. We have talked about allowing immigrants to enter the country if they agreed to work in small communities. Not the answer. The only answer is to pay really good money to get four doctors in a small community like Chase or Ashcroft, and you might get someone to bite. The old "lifestyle" attraction just isn't there any more. To say "hey, we've got a great rural lifestyle here and you should come and raise your family in the country" just isn't the answer, especially if you don't get the pay and you're working yourself so hard you just can't enjoy the lifestyle.
If you pay enough, more than you would get coming to a larger center, you will attract doctors, and you have to be committed to that to make it work. Otherwise, medical service in small communities will continue to decline, and more and more patients will have to come to larger centers like Kamloops for treatment. Sad to say, but when it comes to rural health care, it really is all about the money.
Small town medicine has been much in the news lately. A number of communities around Kamloops are searching for doctors to fill vacancies. It's not an easy problem to resolve, and it's not going to get any easier. The reality is, I don't think the problem will be resolved until the government realizes people aren't going to go to small towns unless they get paid, and get paid well. They aren't going to go to a place where they get burned out and are on call 24/7 and get relatively little compensation.
We tried years ago to regulate new doctors and force them to work in smaller communities when they first got out of school. Didn't work. We have talked about allowing immigrants to enter the country if they agreed to work in small communities. Not the answer. The only answer is to pay really good money to get four doctors in a small community like Chase or Ashcroft, and you might get someone to bite. The old "lifestyle" attraction just isn't there any more. To say "hey, we've got a great rural lifestyle here and you should come and raise your family in the country" just isn't the answer, especially if you don't get the pay and you're working yourself so hard you just can't enjoy the lifestyle.
If you pay enough, more than you would get coming to a larger center, you will attract doctors, and you have to be committed to that to make it work. Otherwise, medical service in small communities will continue to decline, and more and more patients will have to come to larger centers like Kamloops for treatment. Sad to say, but when it comes to rural health care, it really is all about the money.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
New Health Funding Model has Potential
(Aired on April 13, 2010)
If you have followed this program over the years, you'll know I have constantly pushed the government to try new ways to fix the broken health care model. That's why I will not criticize a new plan announced yesterday by Health Minister Kevin Falcon to offer hospitals incentives to save money. The plan will give hospitals a bonus if they deliver acute care on budget.
The plan is called a "patient-focused funding model". There are 16 countries who have tried this plan in some way, shape or form, apparently with mixed results. If, as the Minister says, we wind up putting more patients through the system, reduce surgery wait times, and find innovative ways to deal with patients, it will be a good thing. It certainly puts the pressure on hospitals to ensure they follow best practices to get the job done, and maybe it will encourage hospitals like Royal Inland to start thinking out of the box to get the job done.
I think there are probably things we haven't even thought of yet to fix the system, and maybe this will cause a new braintrust to emerge who can find improvements.
On the down side, I think there is a real potential to push through the so-called "quick" surgeries like knee and hip replacements, and forget about providing care for heart patients and chronically ill patients. Those patients require much longer care, and somehow they have to be factored into the new system. If they don't, then the system is not doing it right.
Falcon is right about one thing, we can't spend our way out of the problems. I've said that for years. Maybe in that sense, government is finally starting to listen. And I will wait to make a judgment on the success or failure of this new program. It has the potential, if it's done right, to stimulate some creative juices and perhaps make us find new solutions. But if those solutions come at the expense of heart patients, who are going to become more and more a big problem to deal with as the population ages, if it comes at the expense of hospital cleanliness, or proper lab services, or proper diagnostic care, or proper support staffing levels, then it's just a wasted effort. The proof of this will definitely be in the pudding.
If you have followed this program over the years, you'll know I have constantly pushed the government to try new ways to fix the broken health care model. That's why I will not criticize a new plan announced yesterday by Health Minister Kevin Falcon to offer hospitals incentives to save money. The plan will give hospitals a bonus if they deliver acute care on budget.
The plan is called a "patient-focused funding model". There are 16 countries who have tried this plan in some way, shape or form, apparently with mixed results. If, as the Minister says, we wind up putting more patients through the system, reduce surgery wait times, and find innovative ways to deal with patients, it will be a good thing. It certainly puts the pressure on hospitals to ensure they follow best practices to get the job done, and maybe it will encourage hospitals like Royal Inland to start thinking out of the box to get the job done.
I think there are probably things we haven't even thought of yet to fix the system, and maybe this will cause a new braintrust to emerge who can find improvements.
On the down side, I think there is a real potential to push through the so-called "quick" surgeries like knee and hip replacements, and forget about providing care for heart patients and chronically ill patients. Those patients require much longer care, and somehow they have to be factored into the new system. If they don't, then the system is not doing it right.
Falcon is right about one thing, we can't spend our way out of the problems. I've said that for years. Maybe in that sense, government is finally starting to listen. And I will wait to make a judgment on the success or failure of this new program. It has the potential, if it's done right, to stimulate some creative juices and perhaps make us find new solutions. But if those solutions come at the expense of heart patients, who are going to become more and more a big problem to deal with as the population ages, if it comes at the expense of hospital cleanliness, or proper lab services, or proper diagnostic care, or proper support staffing levels, then it's just a wasted effort. The proof of this will definitely be in the pudding.
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