How to fix Canada’s health care system
Posted May 19, 2018 06:30:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canadians are extremely proud of their health care system, but it is a system not free of problems.
In 2004, the federal government put $5.5-billion toward addressing wait-times for five procedures.
Acting Dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen's University Dr. Chris Simpson said all that did was keep a lid on the problem instead of correcting it.
He told 1310 NEWS' The Rick Gibbons Show, Canadian governments have thrown a lot of money at symptoms of a bogged down health care system, including wait times and bed shortages, with little improvement. He added that it's time residents had a real conversation about the core design of health care in Canada.
Simpson said the 60's model of acute disease — you get sick, you go to the hospital, you're treated, you go home — has changed.
“Today, the landscape is one of chronic disease,” he explained. “People have dementia, diabetes, arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure. All of these things don't necessarily cause you to be acutely ill and require hospitalization.”
Simpson said our health care system needs new, more integrated models to treat patients with multiple issues, instead of siloed care.
Listen to the full conversation with Dr. Chris Simpson:
