Northern docs weigh in on new provincial health care deal with feds

As the provinces get ready to hammer out details of a new health care deal with the federal government, medical professionals in northern Ontario are voicing their thoughts on where – and how – any new money should be spent.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Canada's premiers last week to pitch a plan to send roughly $46.2 billion in new money to the provinces and territories over 10 years to help prop up a faltering health-care system.

Dr. Yves Raymond, vice president of the medical staff of Timmins and District Hospital and the lead physician at the Timmins Academic Family Health Team, said he's hoping the funding increase is spread over the "entire spectrum" of health care provision for northeastern Ontario.

"I think everybody would benefit from this because it will bring some stability to the funding envelopes that we have," Raymond said. "And hopefully will lead to an ability to recruit and retain many needed healthcare professionals."

Ottawa's proposal includes a top-up to the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) and new money directed at four priority areas: family health services, health workers and backlogs, mental health and substance use and a "modernized health system."

To access the enhanced CHT, provinces must first commit to improving how health data is "collected, shared, used and reported to Canadians to promote greater transparency on results, and to help manage public health emergencies," the government said in a background document supplied to reporters.

The funding for the shared priorities will also be contingent on the provinces and territories developing "action plans" detailing how these funds will be spent and how progress will be measured.

The most pressing need for the system, Raymond said, is to re-establish a foundation of primary care physicians, specialists, even general health human resources likes social workers, nurses and mental health workers.

But it all starts with addressing the needs in primary care, Raymond said.

"By improving access to primary care, we can actually help patients have healthier lives, but also at less cost to the system," he said. 

That was a need that became apparent during the pandemic, as many primary care organizations stepped in to "fill the gaps" that public health and hospitals were faced with, Raymond said. 

"I remember talking with one of my colleagues where we talked about what would we do if we didn't have family health teams or community health centres or Aboriginal Health Access Centres to lean on in the middle of this?"

"And we really couldn't come up with a good answer." 

Ben Reitzel, a physician at the North Bay Regional Hospital, said the health care deficit that's being addressed by the new deal has been a constant throughout his career.