Provincial leaders were frantic about the ailing state of their health care systems last year when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat them down and offered $46.2-billion worth of urgent treatment.
It wasn91裸聊视频檛 enough, but most of the provinces grudgingly accepted the broad terms of the deal and returned home to negotiate the finer points behind closed doors.
Since then, Ottawa and the provinces have continued to broker a collective long-term vision for health-care improvements. But doctors, nurses and other health advocates say the crisis is only getting worse.
Health workers want to see governments move faster to treat the crisis. But a real fix will take time, Health Minister Mark Holland acknowledged in an interview.
91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e not looking for placebo policy here,91裸聊视频� Holland said.
That91裸聊视频檚 why the federal government has pushed for specific promises from provinces about how they will spend the money, 91裸聊视频渨hich is why it takes time to then negotiate these deals,91裸聊视频� he added.
The scenes that have played out over the last 12 months have been jarring: people turned away from emergency rooms, seniors languishing for days in hospital hallways, family doctors abandoning their practices, burned-out nurses leaving the profession they once loved.
The state of Canada91裸聊视频檚 health systems has already cost people their lives, said Dr. Alan Drummond, an emergency physician in Perth, Ont., and spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 only by the grace of whoever91裸聊视频檚 God it is that more have not died,91裸聊视频� said Drummond, who has been practising medicine for 45 years.
91裸聊视频淪omething is really wrong here and it really does feel to me like a crisis.91裸聊视频�
So far, Ottawa has signed four one-on-one deals with provinces for targeted funding 91裸聊视频� provided the provinces lay out how they plan to spend the money.
Alberta, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia have all made specific promises about how they will eventually transform their health systems.
Other deals are still in progress, though Quebec has staunchly opposed the deal Trudeau put forward because it would make the province beholden to measurable targets and force the province to share health data.
Many elements of the system are in crisis, Holland acknowledged. But the overall trajectory of the system is positive, he insisted.
91裸聊视频淭here are, in different jurisdictions, different leadership taking on different elements of the health system, different innovations that are occurring, and a spirit of learning and evaluation that91裸聊视频檚 being built in.91裸聊视频�
Those discussions are mainly happening at a bureaucratic level, said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
91裸聊视频淔or the nurse working at 2 a.m., other than a lot of talk, nothing has changed,91裸聊视频� Silas said.
The nurse and her patient 91裸聊视频� who has likely already had to wait hours in the emergency room 91裸聊视频� want the governments to move faster, she added.
The federal government has given provinces until March to reach a deal if they want to get their share of the funding. Holland said all provinces and territories are in position to get them done by the deadline, with the possible exception of Quebec.
So far the deals invest mainly in community-based care, he said, and provinces have agreed to make health data, including patient records, more compatible across the country.
Health advocates appear divided over whether the plans will fix what91裸聊视频檚 broken.
91裸聊视频淚 think the current situation has placed Canadians in a crisis of confidence in their health care system,91裸聊视频� Drummond said.
91裸聊视频淓qually, I think there91裸聊视频檚 a crisis in confidence by health care providers in our leaders, because we don91裸聊视频檛 really believe that they know what they91裸聊视频檙e doing, or that they have a plan to get us out of the mess we91裸聊视频檙e currently in.91裸聊视频�
Canadian Medical Association and the College of Family Physicians of Canada are also worried about the public91裸聊视频檚 waning confidence.
91裸聊视频淐anadians continue to suffer, and they are rapidly losing faith that positive change is coming,91裸聊视频� the Canadian Medical Association and the College of Family Physicians of Canada said in a joint statement.
91裸聊视频淗ealth care providers can no longer be called upon to prop up systems that are on the verge of collapse.91裸聊视频�
But once the plans are in place and the money is flowing, Silas said, the nurse working a night shift in the hospital at 4 a.m. will eventually recover.
It91裸聊视频檚 only a matter of when.
91裸聊视频淚 can understand where the ministers are coming from,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淏ut it91裸聊视频檚 not going fast enough.91裸聊视频�
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