Budget Backgrounder: Health Investment Fund
The Nova Scotia government is making the largest single investment in the province's health care system since the inception of medicare 30 years ago, with a $600-million Health Investment Fund, announced today in the budget.
"We are meeting the challenge facing our health care system head on," said Premier Russell MacLellan, "with an investment that will, first and foremost, improve the quality of care for Nova Scotians. This investment will also provide the tools needed to manage the system more efficiently, making it more dependable in the long run."
The Health Investment Fund is above and beyond the province's $1.6-billion health budget and is the central element of a plan to address the concerns Nova Scotians have about their health care system and its future. The province also announced it has assumed the debts of Nova Scotia's hospitals, has increased hospital funding, and will provide funds to hire 400 full-time nurses.
Spending from the fund will be spread over three years, with $250 million earmarked for this year and next, and $100 million in year three. The hospital debts will not affect the fund, as Health Minister Jim Smith said: "The investment fund will be used to improve health care today and tomorrow, not pay for yesterday."
The fund is divided into two parts, operating and investment. The operating component will allow hospitals and regional health boards to meet service demands, without relying on borrowing. The larger component -- some $361 million -- is earmarked for strategic investments.
Those investments include money to train, recruit and provide additional support systems for nurses and other care providers; to expand nursing homes and home health care capacity; to buy new hospital equipment; to put in place programs to promote healthy lifestyles; and to fund a variety of community-based health programs.
The fund will finance a modern information and communication system that will connect the diverse sectors of the health care system, resulting in better management of the system and best patient care practices.
Finance Minister Don Downe noted that the federal government is finally putting money back into health care, after years of cutting. But, he said, the federal funding it is not enough.
"As Nova Scotians we must do more ourselves. Now is the time. As the baby boom generation ages we will have an unprecedented increase in need," Mr. Downe said.
As a result of fund investments, many health services will be available closer to more Nova Scotians, particularly those in rural parts of the province. Access to hospitals will improve as other services and facilities -- like home care and nursing homes -- are expanded, relieving the pressure on hospitals.
"We're asking our hospitals to do too much," said Dr. Smith. "This investment fund will balance and integrate the entire health care system, so Nova Scotians get the right care when and where they need it. That is the vision and the goal of the fund -- a dependable, caring health system that provides the right response, by the right care provider, in the right place, and at the right time."
He said the fund will bring a new standard of accountability to Nova Scotia's health care system. An annual report card to Nova Scotians will include not only where the money has been spent, but how the investment will improve the quality of health care in Nova Scotia.