Posts Tagged ‘Health’

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »

The Government of Canada announces the creation of the Canadian Drug Agency

Wednesday, December 20th, 2023

The CDA will build on CADTH’s existing mandate… to include new work streams including: Improving the appropriate prescribing and use of medications… Increasing pan-Canadian data collection and expanding access to drug and treatment data… and, Reducing drug system duplication and lack of coordination that causes expensive inefficiencies and pressures… Once the CDA is operational, it will take on a greater role in the drug system to ensure Canadians can have better health outcomes and access the medications…

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


Home care reforms don’t address poor working conditions

Saturday, December 16th, 2023

The almost entirely female – and, in Toronto, mostly racialized – home care personal support workers expect more of the same: low wages, irregular work, few benefits, and almost no pensions. Recent reforms to home care will not resolve chronic problems of poor working conditions, fragmentation of services, and an inefficient delivery model…

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »


After 57 years, Canadians finally have a reason to ‘say cheese’

Thursday, December 14th, 2023

Tooth decay is a preventable disease and a low-cost public health intervention. By publicly funding this care, we should be getting vastly improved preventive and primary care, better health outcomes, and new levers to contain costs… Today it’s not just kids and the elderly who need help. It’s the twenty-, thirty-, even forty-somethings whose jobs don’t come with benefits packages, and whose pay hasn’t kept up with soaring rents and groceries. 

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


Program at Hamilton Public Library shows how libraries can expand the social services they provide

Wednesday, December 13th, 2023

Library social workers aim to remove systemic barriers… by offering preventative support… and by helping people access services that offer longer-term solutions to their problems… they are trained and able to support trauma, mental-health issues, challenges and complex needs in a way that meets the person where they are at emotionally, physically and/or cognitively.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »


Canada is rolling out its dental care program.

Monday, December 11th, 2023

The program will be phased in, starting with seniors. Eligible Canadians aged 87 and above can start applying this month. Those aged 77 to 86 can start applying in January 2024, followed by those aged 72 to 76 in February. If you’re between the ages of 70 and 71, you can apply in March… Starting in May 2024, applications will move to an online portal, and will open up to seniors aged 65 and up. In June, anyone with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate, and eligible youth under 18, can also begin applying online. Everyone else meeting the criteria can apply online in 2025.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


Health care is the Ontario government’s job one. Shouldn’t they be better at it?

Thursday, December 7th, 2023

… this year’s reports on the health-care system are a reminder that spending less is not the same thing as spending well and that, in some cases at least, you need to spend more public money to fix important policy problems. Ontario may be training a record number of nurses, but if we want them to stay in this province, we’ll likely need to pay them more than we currently do — not least because Ontario currently pays nurses less than does any other province… for all the billions of dollars that the government taxes and spends to keep the system running

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »


Hospitals plagued by staff shortages and ER closures under Ford government, auditor general finds

Wednesday, December 6th, 2023

Plagued by shortages of doctors and nurses and persistent emergency room closures, Ontario lacks a province-wide strategy to fix the problems, the watchdog agency said in a wide-ranging audit of government performance… The worsening staff shortages have been fuelled by the Ford government’s Bill 124, which limited nurses and many other public sector workers to maximum annual pay hikes of one per cent, the auditor found.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »


Ford government’s bottomless determination to convert our drinking into private profit should concern us all

Wednesday, November 29th, 2023

… making alcohol cheaper and easier to purchase unsurprisingly leads to higher levels of drinking and increases in harm… Our drinking is big business — almost $10 billion a year — and multiple players are fighting to grab a larger slice of that pie. And while the industry winners may be about to waltz off with a record windfall, the likely losers — the Ontario taxpayers — may be left to deal with increasing social and health harms, all on a shrinking budget.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


We are walking down the dangerous path of health care privatization

Tuesday, November 21st, 2023

… medicare restrictions on physicians are provincially and territorially imposed, so many virtual clinics skirt the rules by employing physicians licenced in a different jurisdiction than the patient lives. Resolving these loopholes is not impossible — simply fold nurse practitioners into the same medicare legislation physicians work under and bring in nationwide physician licencing. Yet there seems to be no appetite on the part of health ministries to address these issues.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »


Canada needs doctors – so why is the country forcing Canadian physicians into exile?

Friday, November 17th, 2023

Both the licensing exams and residency matching are areas that if modified can establish a more streamlined, simple and fair repatriation process. Provincial governments can also work with medical schools to cover salaries for residency slots and the related program expansion costs for medical disciplines in shortest supply.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »


« Older Entries | Newer Entries »