Good Health Care Needs Good People

Despite inadequate federal funding, there are a number of positive approaches the provinces and territories can adopt to help remedy the health human-resources problem, Premier John Hamm said today.

In a presentation this morning to Canada's premiers, Premier Hamm proposed four key initiatives to address the cross-country shortage of health-care practitioners:

• a pan-Canadian database of health-care practitioners;
• a system of shared best practices of health-care teams;
• common competencies and licensing for nurse practitioners; and
• a system of shared best practices on alternative payment programs for physicians.

"Good health care depends upon having an adequate number of good people in the system -- doctors, nurses and many other professionals," said Premier Hamm. "These initiatives are common- sense proposals that, with the support of Ottawa, will help provinces like Nova Scotia deal with issues of recruitment and retention."

Health Minister Jamie Muir noted that Nova Scotia has one of the highest provincial per-capita numbers of doctors and nurses in the country. In April 2001, the minister unveiled Nova Scotia's first-ever nursing strategy, developed in partnership with nurses and other professionals. One of the key elements of the strategy, expanding the role of nurse practitioners in the province, took effect earlier this month. Nova Scotia became only the second province in Canada to recognize nurse practitioners in law.

"No matter how many positive moves individual provinces make, no province or territory delivers health care in isolation," said Mr. Muir. "We need to work more closely to ensure that an adequate number of health professionals is available for Canadians. Supply must equal demand and a shortage in any province has an effect on all provinces. The federal government must help. Training programs must expand and meet today's realities."

Since 1993, the federal government has cut a billion dollars in funding from health and social programs in Nova Scotia. Only 14 cents out of every dollar spent on health care in Nova Scotia comes from the federal government.