Waste bigger problem than lack of cash, says chief of staff at Ottawa Hospital
By Meagan Fitzpatrick, Postmedia News
The health-care system Canadians cherish -- and spend billions on -- is in decline and needs better management, the new head of the Canadian Medical Association said Wednesday.
"It's not a lack of resources. It's not an absence of will. It's a glaring failure of execution," said Dr. Jeff Turnbull, chief of staff at The Ottawa Hospital, in his inaugural speech to the CMA.
The Ottawa physician said he's studied health-care systems across the country and around the world and what's needed most to improve the system is not just more money, but "better and more effective systems of management and governance."
Turnbull said last year, $183 billion was spent on health care in Canada and yet, studies find it ranks almost last among advanced countries in value for money in health care.
More money is needed for specific components of the health system, including electronic health records, pharmacare programs, and information technology, said Turnbull.
But overall, the system could be made more efficient by better integrating care and making more evidence-based decisions, he said.
"To my fellow Canadians, I say on behalf of all doctors: you deserve better value. You deserve better service. You just deserve better," said Turnbull, "and we will all fight to ensure you get it."
Transforming the health system and making it more patient-centred were the central themes at this year's CMA general council meetings, where the country's physicians debate and decide on directions and policies they want their profession to take.
Delegates officially endorsed a policy document recently released by the CMA called Health Care Transformation in Canada: Change That Works, Care That Lasts.
It asks Canadians to engage in a national debate about the future of their health care.
Whereas in previous years a debate about private versus public systems of health care have dominated CMA meetings and the organization's leaders have specified their preferences, the CMA is now saying they want the "fundamentals" of a reformed health-care system discussed first.
"Canadians want us to define what is a sustainable health-care system that delivers value for money," Turnbull said at a news conference.
A discussion about how to finance that system will follow, he said, and may include looking at new funding models.
But first, the country needs to decide how to change the system so that it works better and can sustain the growing pressure that will be placed on it as the population ages, according to the CMA.
