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Canada falls short in several areas of health care...OECD countries, report says

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    Canada falls short in several areas of health care...OECD countries, report says

    Canada falls short in several areas of health care in comparison to other OECD countries, report says

    [url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canada-falls-short-in-several-areas-of-health-care-in-comparison-to/[/url]

    Karen Howlett ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/karen-howlett/[/url])
    Published 4 hours agoUpdated 1 hour ago

    I Norway, every resident is automatically assigned a family doctor. Patients in the Netherlands have access to primary care 24 hours a day through a network of after-hours care. And in Britain, newborns must be registered with a local medical practice within six weeks of birth.

    As the number of Canadians without a family doctor rises, policy makers can learn lessons from these other wealthy developed countries where more than 95 per cent of people have regular access to a primary-care provider, according to a new report.

    The report, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), reveals how the country falls short in several key areas in comparison with nine other Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Canada has fewer physicians overall per capita, spends less of its total health budget on primary care, and has relatively high maternal- and infant-mortality rates.

    Statistics Canada’s most recent data from 2021 suggest that 14.4 per cent of Canadians don’t have a health care ([url]https://www.theglobeandmail.com/topics/health-care/[/url]) provider they can see regularly for care. The number of orphaned patients is expected to increase as older doctors retire and younger ones turn away from traditional family practice.

    “We have to have a goal of guaranteed access to primary care and funded appropriately,” Tara Kiran, an author of the report and a family doctor at St. Michael’s Hospital and primary-care researcher at the University of Toronto, said in an interview. “Until we do that, unfortunately, we have a situation where we have haves and have-nots.”

    Family doctors are the cornerstone of a high-functioning health care system. They help patients navigate the system, referring them to specialists for early screening and treatment of medical conditions. They also get to know the people they serve over time, allowing them to deliver higher-quality care than a walk-in clinic or emergency department.

    The CMAJ report examines four countries – Norway, the Netherlands, Britain and Finland – where family doctors, known there as general practitioners, play a strong gate-keeping role.

    Most of the doctors work in primary care – an office-based clinical setting that allows them to provide continuity of care for patients from infancy to old age. Registration with a doctor is either automatic, mandatory or strongly supported in all four countries, the report says. Doctors also provide after-hours care to their patients.

    Walk-in medical clinics – a staple of Canada’s health system – are almost non-existent.

    “These countries have really figured out how to hold their clinicians accountable for timely access to care,” Dr. Kiran said in the interview.

    In Canada, by contrast, family doctors have more freedom over where they practice, how many hours they work and the patients they accept, the report says. A Globe and Mail story last year on Canada’s crisis in primary care found that many doctors divide their time between office-based care and practising in hospitals, nursing homes, walk-in clinics or sports-medicine clinics.

    Working in primary care is becoming less attractive for many family doctors, causing them to reduce their hours or close their practices altogether. At the same time, many doctors are nearing retirement age – 14.6 per cent in Canada were 65 and older in 2022, figures from the Canadian Institute for Health Information show.

    Overall, Canada has 24.4 physicians for every 10,000 residents, leaving it lagging well behind the other nine OECD countries, the report says. Norway has the most, with 50.5 physicians for every 10,000 residents.

    With fewer physicians in Canada, family doctors must step in to support other parts of the health system, including working in hospitals, which leaves less of the work force providing primary care.

    Canada also earmarks 5.3 per cent of its total health budget for primary care, well below an average of 8.1 per cent among other OECD countries, the report says.

    In addition, the report notes that Canada’s infant-mortality rate was 4.5 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2020, the highest among the ten countries.

    International variations in how the data are collected can affect the rankings. Canada, for example, registers a higher proportion of babies weighing less than 500 grams, with low odds of survival, resulting in higher reported infant mortality, says a separate OECD report. In 2022, Canada ranked 31st out of 38 OECD countries, that report says.

    More research needs to be done on this issue, Dr. Kiran said. “I think we actually just don’t know what all the determinants are for why or infant-mortality rate is so much higher than in other OECD countries.”






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    #2
    Thats what we get for 8 years of liberal criminals running this country , give billions to other countrys and give M A I D to their own

    Comment


      #3
      Be careful with this topic.
      I believe all the countries above us on the list have a blended system.
      Some co-pay, a little private insurance, some private clinics.
      Fear mongers and unions on the left don't allow these discussions here.
      Insert mirror.
      Codes and Scope of practice another big issue in my mind.
      Can't blame right or left for that stupidity.

      Comment


        #4
        Biggest problem is Supreme Court rejects change while having special medical access that ordinary Canadians don't. If they rule on our system they should be subjected to it.

        Comment


          #5
          Healthcare is primarily the responsibility of the provinces. As I have said we are under funding primary healthcare in this country. We need more doctors that are committed to providing primary healthcare. The provinces can accept more students and train more doctors and nurses by adequately funding enough education spaces. Saskatchewan is paying lower fees to specialists than Alberta and Manitoba and probably family doctors as well. And we wonder why there is a shortage?
          Last edited by chuckChuck; Dec 5, 2023, 07:05.

          Comment


            #6
            after the new laws that have been passed or about to be passed in BC anybody would be insane to go into healthcare in this country

            Comment


              #7
              Are the provinces spending all the $ the federal gives them for medical on medical?
              I understood that Feds gave provinces $ or at least offered to pay for air quality control systems in schools and LTC but very few got installed. Yet when Feds wanted to give $ directly the Prov gov'ts baulked.

              Comment


                #8
                My sister lives in Australia, I obviously live in Canada. If I understand her correctly in Australia you have the option of buying additional medical insurance above the universal government provided health care. This gives you access to much quicker health care. A good example of this is we both have arthritis in our hips and knees. She went in to see about this recently. He recommended that she get a hip replacement while she is still relatively young and in good physical shape as this improves outcomes. I am 59 and she is almost 3 years younger. In the appointments I have had AHS won’t seriously consider looking at me until I am 65. A friend of mine who is in his early 70’s was on the list for surgery but he had been waiting for more than a year with no hope in sight, he went private. I suspect by the time I am 65 my mobility will be next to zero. I am seriously considering getting it done privately as well, the issue is that while I can get the pre-op work done in Calgary I have to fly to Toronto or Montreal for the operation. You cannot get private surgeries done in your home province, federal regulations I believe. I certainly believe Canada’s health system is wanting, no doubt about it..

                Comment


                  #9
                  What fed regs that you can get done in Toronto but not Calgary?
                  I also have additional insurance in Canada that gives me extra drug coverage and things like private room but not quicker service. That said when there are patients in the hallways not sure there would be a private room available for me.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Hamloc View Post
                    My sister lives in Australia, I obviously live in Canada. If I understand her correctly in Australia you have the option of buying additional medical insurance above the universal government provided health care. This gives you access to much quicker health care. A good example of this is we both have arthritis in our hips and knees. She went in to see about this recently. He recommended that she get a hip replacement while she is still relatively young and in good physical shape as this improves outcomes. I am 59 and she is almost 3 years younger. In the appointments I have had AHS won’t seriously consider looking at me until I am 65. A friend of mine who is in his early 70’s was on the list for surgery but he had been waiting for more than a year with no hope in sight, he went private. I suspect by the time I am 65 my mobility will be next to zero. I am seriously considering getting it done privately as well, the issue is that while I can get the pre-op work done in Calgary I have to fly to Toronto or Montreal for the operation. You cannot get private surgeries done in your home province, federal regulations I believe. I certainly believe Canada’s health system is wanting, no doubt about it..
                    The provinces are underfunding surgical capacity. There is a shortage of staff and operating space time, along with a surge in the number of elderly people needing more healthcare. We have known about the baby boomers demographic for a long time.

                    And for profit private surgery will just drain away resources from the public system resulting in more 2 tier healthcare and longer lines for those who can't afford to pay.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by chuckChuck View Post

                      The provinces are underfunding surgical capacity. There is a shortage of staff and operating space time, along with a surge in the number of elderly people needing more healthcare. We have known about the baby boomers demographic for a long time.

                      And for profit private surgery will just drain away resources from the public system resulting in more 2 tier healthcare and longer lines for those who can't afford to pay.
                      Now I am confused.
                      Healthcare is underfunded the provinces should spend more money because there is shortage of staff and operating space.
                      But if consumers spend more money to solve the underfunding issue, it will just drain the limited pool of resources.

                      Do you even read what you post?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Where is the staff for more surgeries going to come from if we are already short doctors and nurses?

                        Do you even read what you post?

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by chuckChuck View Post
                          Where is the staff for more surgeries going to come from if we are already short doctors and nurses?

                          Do you even read what you post?
                          Where is the staff going to come from if the provinces increase funding if we are already short doctors and nurses?

                          Comment


                            #14
                            By funding more training spaces and in the short term immigration.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by chuckChuck View Post
                              By funding more training spaces and in the short term immigration.
                              But private money can't end up going that direction?

                              Comment

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