SYDNEY, N.S. — At the end of a small lane near the Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative leader Tim Houston outlined his plan for health care in Nova Scotia on Wednesday if his party wins the next provincial election.
While reporters and staff shivered in the -13 C windchill and ambulances howled in the distance, Houston said Nova Scotians deserved better than what they’re getting now under the present Liberal government.
“Change is coming,” he said. “It’s going to take work but we’re willing to do it.”
Houston released his party’s Hope For Health plan in front of the island’s largest hospital because Cape Breton has had the highest hospital mortality rates in the country for the past three years, a situation he believes his plan can change.
“We’re seeing health-care outcomes deteriorating and the costs are going up,” said Houston. “We spend 35 per cent more in administration than other jurisdictions so we have to take a look at the structure — this is something we’re going to do. Look at the structure, make sure the structure works, make sure that the investment that we’re making in health care is going to patient care — patient-centred care — people-driven care, not policy-driven care, people-driven care.”
In addition to consolidating the Department of Health and Wellness with Nova Scotia Health, Houston wants to drastically cut surgical wait times and bring more virtual care into the system.
“We’re already using phones and computers for pretty much everything else in our lives, we should be able to use it to access health care as well, just like so many other jurisdictions,” he said.
Houston and other members of the party stressed at the press conference that health care under their watch wouldn’t be a Monday to Friday operation and that operations could in fact take place at any time they’re needed.
“I think we can agree it’s not the people that are working in the health-care system who are the problem, it’s the system itself,” said Houston.
“Hope for health care means access to primary care.”
The Hope for Health plan targets six areas for improvement including:
• Access to care
• Recruitment and retention
• Prevention and education
• System modernization
• Addressing chronic illness and
• Local decision-making.
Under access, Hope For Health would provide telehealth/virtual care for everyone on the waitlist for a primary care provider. Operating rooms would be open and in use 24/7 to address the surgical backlog. The estimated cost of this investment would be $31,375,000.
Under recruitment and retention, salaries would be increased for family doctors, clinical health services would be established in every region to determine that area’s local needs, new graduates would be mentored and residency seats would be increased along with supports for foreign-trained doctors. The estimated cost of this investment would be $65,002,400.
Under modernization, virtual care would be expanded to allow specialists and other health-care providers to see patients virtually. This investment is estimated to cost $17,200,000.
Under prevention, a chronic illness treatment and prevention program would be established for in-home treatment, a virtual smoking cessation program would be established through Telehealth and there would be a focus on prevention programming in schools. The estimated cost of this investment is $14,700,520.
And under restoring local decision-making, the Department of Health and Wellness and Nova Scotia Health would be consolidated with a reoptimized structure within 12 to 18 months. That is expected to cost $1.2 million.
The total investment cost of the Hope For Health plan would be $127,477,920. It also includes plans for establishing a universal mental health-care program.
“We’re interested in going forward, not backwards,” said Houston. “In every jurisdiction there are assets, we just need to make sure they’re being properly used. We have lots of assets in the health-care system — operating rooms across this province, surgeons who want to work and know their patients need surgeries — let’s free them up to do what they want to do, with the support of the provincial government.”
Elizabeth Patterson is a culture and health reporter at the Cape Breton Post.
