2023 was another challenging year in Canadian health care. The system continues to contend with overwhelm and there’s been no shortage of crises in emergency rooms, primary care offices and operating rooms.
But there’s also been much work done in search of solutions. There are a number of proposed plans – resolutions, if you will – laid out to deal with these crises across the provinces and territories.
Provinces have slowly begun to sign on to Ottawa’s $196 billion, 10-year health-care solutions proposal.
Provinces have also resolved to tackle general health-care staff shortages and increased demand. B.C. plans to restructure funding models in long-term care; Ontario is slated to invest $1.18 billion this year to continue funding 3,500 hospital beds across the province, including $7,738,000 for 34 beds in Thunder Bay. Many experts have also championed the value of team-based care as a means to address the primary care physician shortage.
But not all New Year’s resolutions are without contention. Some provinces, like Alberta, have proclaimed a bold set of goals in the form of radically dismantling its current patient-care model, a restructuring that has been criticized for setting the foundation for increased privatization of health services.
Generally speaking, the efficacy of New Year’s resolutions isn’t great. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t continue to set goals for the year ahead.
In a time of upheaval and undoubtedly significant professional strain, we wanted to know what health-care experts themselves had on their New Year’s resolution lists.
