Health Care

First Ministers' Agreement on Healthcare – 2004

In September 2004, the provinces, territories and federal government agreed to a 10-year plan to strengthen health care. As a result of this agreement, British Columbia expects to receive a total of $5.4 billion in new federal health funding over the next ten years.

The First Ministers agreed the top priority for these funds is to improve access to care and reduce wait times where they are longer than medically acceptable. Although every jurisdiction will be responsible for establishing its own priorities across the continuum of health services provided to their citizens, the First Ministers also agreed that cancer and heart surgeries, diagnostic imaging, joint replacement and sight restoration services were important priority areas to be considered. The First Ministers also recognized that improving access to care will require cooperation among governments, the participation of health care providers and patients, and strategic investment in such areas as:

• increasing the supply of health professionals (e.g. doctors, nurses and pharmacists);
• enhancing primary care;
• delivering effective community and home-based services; and
• effective health promotion, disease prevention and public health services.

In addition, First Ministers agreed the implementation of a national pharmaceutical strategy would improve access for all Canadians to important classes of drugs while providing opportunities to take advantage of economies of scale and initiatives which would improve prescribing and minimize adverse events related to drugs.

The Ministry of Health Services' service plan objectives and strategies reflect the commitments and priorities of the First Ministers in the 10-year plan. Strategic investments in priority areas across the continuum of health services will be a highlight of the next three years. Examples of areas in which the ministry and health authorities will be working to improve access and services beyond the five key First Minister priority areas include:

• innovative strategies to enhance health promotion and disease prevention by focusing on 5 key risk factors for disease;
• increased access to mental health and addiction services;
• continuing to build capacity across the province for access to all acute care services including life support services such as renal dialysis;
• enhancing the effectiveness of primary care;
• delivering effective community and home-based services with an emphasis on new strategies for end of life care;
• increased options for frail seniors in the supportive housing, assisted living and residential care sector;
• strengthening patient safety initiatives; and
• optimizing the supply of health care professionals across all disciplines.

This increase in capacity will build on the significant success in enhancing access that has already occurred. The new federal funding commitment, which over 10 years represents approximately 4 per cent of the expected spending on health services, is not the panacea to our challenge of funding the health care system, but is an improvement to what BC would otherwise have faced. British Columbia has the advantage of an efficient, responsive health sector that welcomes the challenge of improving value for the citizens of British Columbia.

At the time of printing Budget 2005, the federal government had not finalized the funding allocations and is not likely to until very late in the 2004/05 fiscal year. Receiving funding late in the year makes it virtually impossible to spend it responsibly for the purposes intended. Accordingly, the 2004/05 funding will be deferred to the subsequent three years and invested in improving wait times across cancer and renal treatment and public health programs.

In addition to the operating funding discussed above, the First Ministers' agreement is also expected to provide British Columbia with an additional $66 million in Medical Equipment Funding in 2004/05. The federal government provided BC with $200 million in Medical Equipment Funding in 2002/03, and that money is being spent over the three years ending 2005/06. The $66 million expected from the First Ministers' agreement will be spent in 2006/07 and 2007/08 on strategic investments in equipment that improve patient care and workplace health including CT and MRI scanners, anaesthetic machines, laboratory equipment and patient beds and lifts.08 on strategic investments in equipment that improve patient care and workplace health including CT and MRI scanners, anaesthetic machines, laboratory equipment and patient beds and lifts.