New health plan to improve efficiency
Kennedy applauds health care changes; Conservatives give thumbs down
The province’s new health-care plan is getting mixed reviews.
On Tuesday afternoon, Health Minister Mike Murphy unveiled his new four-year, $154-million health plan, transforming New Brunswick’s healthcare system.
“Today, our journey begins,” said Murphy. “It begins with the release of our new provincial health plan, which takes effect immediately. Over the course of the next four years, our health plan will transform how we think about and access health care in our province.”
Murphy said the plan is a system which puts patients first and creates a sustainable system for future generations.
It is expected to achieve a better balance between promoting good health and provide health care for the sick; enhance access to health services when, where and how they are needed; and improve overall efficiency of the health-care system.
Murphy’s plan has over 100 new initiatives, including the creation of a cabinet committee on Early Childhood Development, the creation of six new community health centres, expansion of methadone treatment centres and the addition of 100 physicians and 40 nurse practitioners.
“These initiatives and the dozens more that are part of the Provincial Health Plan will put us on the road to a thriving, healthy, productive and self-sufficient New Brunswick,” Murphy said. “They will support our vision of a health-care system that provides New Brunswickers with enhanced access to quality health care, promotes superior population health and serves as a leading example of New Brunswick’s capacity for transformational change.”
Dr. Larry Kennedy, Victoria-Tobique Liberal MLA, said the valley hospitals in Grand Falls, Perth-Andover and Waterville will see more local surgeries and outpatient procedures under the new health plan.
“The facilities will be used to try and diminish the wait lists for some areas and some parts of the province by allowing people to come here,” Dr. Kennedy stated. “The changes will allow patients to see how quickly a chest x-ray, outpatient procedures or a mammogram could be performed in our facilities.”
Dr. Kennedy pointed out that a patient could wait three months for a mammogram in the Saint John area which could be performed much quicker in Perth-Andover or Waterville.
“A patient from Saint John might decide they want to get that done much earlier and drive up here. Things like that are going to enhance the usage of our health care structures in this area.”
Dr. Kennedy said surgical suites at Grand Falls, Perth-Andover and Waterville can help ease the backlog at the larger urban centres, and the new four-lane Trans Canada Highway makes travel to these locations efficient and easy.
“Most of the procedures that will be offered will be outpatient procedures and day surgeries.”
The MLA suggested the upper valley hospitals could easily host an orthopedic team, complete with their own anesthetists and nurses, that could travel to available surgical suites, and perform day surgery like knee orthoscopies that are usually performed in Oromocto.
“This team could be coming from anywhere in the province that needs more operational room space. There is no reason this cannot work.”
Dr. Kennedy said the changes his government are suggesting have the potential to be some of the biggest changes in health care in decades.
“We have been flogging the same horse for a lot of years, not that the horse is a bad horse, but there are significant changes underway for health care,” he stated. “There are always problems everywhere for staffing. For the most part the staffing should stabilize.”
The MLA said consolidating the regional health authorities into two regions will save a lot of money by eliminating duplication and bureaucracy.
“That will work very well in saving money.... I am excited and very happy to be part of the changes that are happening,” he concluded.
Not everyone shares the Liberals’ vision.
Though Woodstock MLA David Award agrees with some of the initiatives in the plan, he calls it underwhelming.
He pointed out, over the last several months, Minister Murphy has talked about a plan that would bring about revolutionary change to the province’s health-care system, but it is nothing more than a carbon copy of what the former Conservatives had begun years ago.
“At best, it is a continuation of where we have been in the past and where we are moving forward,” said Alward. “I think the work that will be done on wait lists is positive, but that was something that was started before.”
He added the work on early childhood health and development is important as well, but it is not transformational.
It is something both governments have worked on and will continue with, he pointed out.
“I think in the big picture point of view, there are some different things in there that are positive, but I don’t think it is the overall vision for New Brunswick,” he added.
Alward said seniors, diabetes and the medical school in Saint John were left out in the cold in this plan. He said this is disheartening to hear, particularly because there is a shortage of physicians at the Upper River Valley Hospital.
“We know the importance of retention and recruitment of doctors, and the medical school would be a primary way to see that happen,” Alward explained.
“That is why the residence was constructed at the new hospital in Waterville.”
During question period last week, Alward said the minister failed to provide adequate answers to these issues.
The New Brunswick Nurses Union (NBNU) questions Murphy’s plan on where the human resources for many of his nursing-based, primary health-care services initiatives come from.
“Registered nurses play a key role in health promotion, one of the pillars identified in the plan, yet an increase in university nursing seats was not part of the plan,” said president Marilyn Quinn, “There is a nursing shortage now, so why are retention and recruitment strategies not an integral part of the current plan?” She pointed out a step in the right direction would be to establish a Quality Work Life Committee to identify and create supportive work environments and loan-forgiveness programs for nursing students in their final year. She also feels the health human resource study in the plan needs to get off the ground immediately and the plan adjusted when the study shows a serious shortfall in the number of registered nurses.
“I’d also like to see some kind of progress report for the health plan,” Quinn added. “It would set out targets, deadlines and financial allocations, with quarterly updates issued by the Department of Health. With so many elements in the plan, there needs to be some kind of transparency and accountability.”
Others, like the Canadian Cancer Society, like what they saw in Murphy’s new health plan. Executive director Anne McTiernan-Gamble said she is pleased to see the commitment from the Health Department to establish cervical cancer prevention and screening programs and evaluate integrated screening programs for breast and colorectal cancers. It also pledges to improve wait times for radiation therapy, recruit two-patient navigators for pediatric cancer patients and eight-patient navigators to assist adult cancer patients during treatment and follow-up care. She pointed out the plan would see amendments made to the Tobacco Act to have tobacco displays removed from retail venues around the province.
“The plan includes key prevention and early detection initiatives that should help to reduce cancer incidence and mortality in this province,” said McTiernan- Gamble. “We are very pleased to see action on a number of priority issues which the Canadian Cancer Society has been advocating for.”
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