Doctors Manitoba adds voice to provincial, national health-care call

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This article was published 06/12/2022 (749 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal-provincial stalemate over increases to health-care transfers is hurting patients, Canadian physicians groups warned in a letter to first ministers, as doctors called for increased funding and collaboration among elected leaders.

“Right now, things are at a standstill,” Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Candace Bradshaw said. “It was extremely heartbreaking and disappointing as physicians to see nothing come out of the meeting that took place between health ministers in Vancouver.”

On Tuesday, provincial and territorial physicians groups sent a joint letter to Canadian premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging lawmakers to to chart a path out of the health-care crisis “with commitments to significant funding increases, pan-Canadian collaboration and accountability to patients.”

Last month, provincial and territorial health ministers met in Vancouver and called on the federal government to increase health-care funding with “no strings attached.” The provinces and territories want Ottawa to increase its share of health-care costs to 35 per cent from 22 per cent.

During the meeting, Ottawa had signalled it was ready to increase transfers with a commitment from jurisdictions that common key health indicators would be expanded, but the meeting concluded with no new agreements.

At the time, federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos blamed the premiers for the talks falling apart, saying the ministers received “marching orders by their premiers not to make further progress.”

On Wednesday, Bradshaw said elected officials are expected to negotiate, and premiers and the prime minister must engage to ensure the health system is there for Canadians when they need it.

Increased funding is urgently needed as costs, wait times, access to primary care and the number of delayed procedures worsen, she said.

“We’re still sitting, waiting, going to work every day functioning in a dysfunctional system, coming home and seeing the news that yet again there’s no progress,” the family physician said.

“Every day that that goes on in each of our different provinces is becoming more and more untenable.”

In their letter, doctors expressed deep concern over forecast declines in the federal government’s share of of health funding in the near term: “The gaps in our health-care system are growing wider with every day that passes without the necessary political leadership to address the growing crisis.”

Bradshaw said pan-Canadian collaboration on health care could also result in best practices implemented across jurisdictions. She provided recent changes to physician payments in British Columbia intended to improve access to primary care as an example of an out-of-province program that could be applied in Manitoba.

“The system needs some ingenuity, it needs redesign, we need creative minds coming together,” Bradshaw said.

The Manitoba government appears open to increased spending on health care, Bradshaw said, acknowledging a recent commitment to spend $200 million on health human resources.

However, it’s also fair for the federal government to expect transparency and accountability on how dollars are spent, she said. “But I don’t think it should be dictated or inflexible. The priorities are different in each province.”

Meantime, the Manitoba New Democrats called out the Progressive Conservative government for setting a limit on health-care spending below the rate of inflation.

“All it takes is a trip to the grocery store to know that the PCs’ health-care spending for the next year is a straight cut,” Opposition Leader Wab Kinew said Wednesday.

According to the province’s latest health system dashboard report from September, spending overall was 1.9 per cent higher than 2021-22. The Manitoba government set a goal of limiting health expenditures within 1.6 per cent of 2021-22 levels.

However, the report also notes all five regional health authorities are forecast to spend less than they did last year, by a combined $225 million. At the same time, expenditures increased significantly in the Manitoba Health department and in the Health Services Insurance Fund.

A government spokesperson said Wednesday evening: “In Budget 2022, our government invested $7.2 billion, which is the most significant health-care investment in the history of our province… This investment includes $812 million to build, expand, and fix our health-care facilities… $160 million to address the diagnostic and surgical backlog, and most recently $200 million to retain, train, and recruit 2,000 health-care professionals.”

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca