Health Care in Canada has been a train wreck waiting for more cars to pile up. When universal health care was first introduced into Canada, there was conflict to begin with, but the program proved to be working well.
The federal government spent a dollar for every dollar spent by the provinces. The provinces ran the program and the federal government kept an eye on it, as long as the program was working. Everything was fine to be basically honest. The people enjoyed "free health care" which was paid for by their taxes, and doctors got paid for their services, operating rooms were running adequately and appeared to be fine.
Then Brian Mulroney became prime minister and changed the funding formula of the program. Under Mulroney the federal government ended up paying roughly 25 cents for every dollar spent. Then Jean Chretien becomes prime minster and between him and Paul Martin, health care was cut again forcing the provinces to make cuts to health care services. Apparently now, the federal government puts in about 11 cents for every dollar spent by the provinces. But that's not the end of the problem.
Hospitals had to cut their budgets as well. The end result is that nurses were no longer hired a full time staff. Benefits have become too expensive so nurses were hired as full time, full time/part time, occasional, temporary, contracted travel nurse. This kind of staffing entered into nursing homes and retirement homes and long term care homes. The end result has been that more nurses are working in some cases as many as 4 to 5 different places in order to obtain a 40 hour week.
When nurses are asked what they would like, mots of them say a position as one place where they can put in a 40 hour week. But no one was nor are listening. Yes it has been suggested that anyone in the health care system should be working only at one place, but again only deaf ears prevail.
Everyone knows what the problems are. Covid-19 didn't have to appear to show how devastating the health care program has become. The answers are there to fix the problems but no one appears to have stepped up to the plate and actually take action.
The federal government needs to restore health care payments to the early year standards when the program was actually working. Yes for every dollar spent by the province, the federal government needs to kick in a dollar as well. The provinces need to make it mandatory that health care workers from nurses to psw can only work at one place, with a 40 hour week. There needs to be a quota set again that for every six patients, there is one nurse, and that nurses can not be replaced with psw, nurses aids, or part time staffing of any sort.
To be honest, health care workers hours need to return to 8 hours shits complete with two 15 minute breaks and an hour lunch. In other words, health care has gone all over the boards and have done nothing to improve the working conditions and services. A return to the original programs would restore continuity to the health care system and actually employ more people. Contracting of staff should be ended and all hospitals, nursing homes right to retirement homes should be hiring their own staff.
These are just ideas and suggestions. The health care system is failing Canadians and it is the direct result of governments cuts to health care and the way hospitals to retirement homes staff create their staffing needs. Canadians need to know that when a hospital talks about shortage of bed, they are saying they just don't have the staff to care for the patients that would be in those beds.
If anything covid, sars, flue, emergency services have shown the problems over and over again with no one willing to restore the universal health care system from top to bottom. Everyone knows what's wrong. No one is there.
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