Health-Care Solutions Must Come First

Premier John Hamm hopes that this week's premiers' meeting on health care focuses on solutions for Nova Scotians and all Canadians.

"There are many areas in which provincial and territorial governments can work together to improve the health of Canadians," said the premier, who is leaving Wednesday, Jan. 23, for the meeting in Vancouver. "As the governments that are mainly responsible for health care in Canada, people are counting on us to adopt realistic measures that will ensure they get the best health care possible, regardless of where they live in the country."

At the annual premiers' conference last August in Victoria, B.C., premiers agreed to meet again in January to report on their progress on changing health care for the better. Premier Hamm will report on a number of positive initiatives Nova Scotia has undertaken to improve health care, including:

• a provincial nursing strategy, developed in partnership with nurses, aimed at recruitment and retention and changes to primary care, such as expanding the role of nurse practitioners;
• a new information management system on patient data;
• more spending on community wellness and disease prevention programs; and
• a new regional drug-evaluation process, which will help taxpayers in the four Atlantic provinces save money on costly new pharmaceuticals.

The premier will make a number of presentations at the Vancouver meeting, including one on health human resources. Among the proposals Nova Scotia will put forward is the establishment of a pan-Canadian database of health-care professionals. The information in such a database would help provinces plan their health workforces better.

"The shortage in health-care practitioners is a cross-Canada problem and requires some cross-Canada solutions," said the premier. "A pan-Canadian database would give provinces like Nova Scotia better information for decisions on training and recruiting doctors, nurses and other health-care workers."

The premier stressed that the Romanow commission should not be used as an excuse by the federal government for not supporting what he calls self-evident provincial reform initiatives or for failing to increase funding immediately.

"While the Romanow commission is a worthwhile exercise, everybody knows the federal government continues to provide less financial support to the provinces than it did in 1993," said the premier. "Moreover, provinces are already working towards sustainable health care as we promised in September 2000."

Health Minister Jamie Muir noted that fair federal funding remains essential to any long-term solutions to improving health care. Since 1993, Ottawa has cut a billion dollars in transfers for Nova Scotia health and social programs. Today, the federal government provides only 14 cents out of every health-care dollar, compared with 22 cents in 1993-94.

"Make no mistake -- unless the federal government becomes a real partner in funding medicare, health care in Nova Scotia and across the country will suffer," said Mr. Muir. "Lasting solutions can happen only with lasting support from the federal government."

At the conclusion of the last First Ministers' Meeting in September 2000, Premier Hamm warned that the lack of meaningful federal funding would contribute to a growing disparity between richer and poorer provinces.