The recent publication by the Health Council of Canada put emphasis on the value Canadians put in their universal healthcare that is publicly funded. The report put the citizen satisfaction level very high and is said to reflect their pride as a society. The problems with universal healthcare in Canada still persisted as revealed by this report.
This is revealed in the reports showing the agony most of the patients goes through when accessing healthcare. These challenges that threaten to render the whole system unsustainable in the long run. There is a call to redesign the system in order to address the current weaknesses.
The average time a patient will wait for a doctor is very long as indicated by 59% of respondents in one survey who reveals that they take an average of four weeks before they can get to see the doctor. This situation is particularly common among those patients seeking specialized treatments in areas of sight restoration, diagnostic imaging scan, cardiac surgery and joint replacement.
This situation forced the federal government to device a 10 year plan in 2005 to see the issue solved. As much as the current data is showing a decreasing trend in wait time, the issue still emerges as the top of the concern among the majority of the Canadian population.
The issue has been so persistent forcing the federal government to take measures with the aim of addressing it. The year 2005 for instance saw the federal government and the provincial hospitals draw a ten year plan that would see the significant reduction in the average wait time. The problem has not yet been fully solved almost 10 years later.
Shortage of Doctors and Other Health Professionals. This is also a major concern as revealed by health surveys in Canada which put it at the second position after the wait time. The problem is largely explained by the immigration of doctors across the border to the United States where the average pay for a doctor is slightly higher than that of Canada. The result is that there are large numbers of patients seeking treatment against few health professionals available in public hospitals.
The other challenges that face the Canadian health system include shortage in bed capacity in many provincial hospitals. Some patients have to seek for alternative means of treatment while others have to be released earlier than their scheduled time because of this issue. This problem is largely attributed to inadequate funding from the public resources.
All these challenges in addition to smaller ones like shortage of beds in wards in a significant numbers of public hospitals and the concern that budgetary allocation towards this health policy put a lot of strains in this the economy increases concerns as to whether this policy will be sustainable in the long run.
Despite all these problems with universal healthcare in Canada, the current data shows a significant improvement particularly in wait time which is the number one concern. Other positive indicators in the Canadian healthcare include high scores in survival rates in breast cancer and other forms of cancers as compared to many other developed economies. The larger majority of Canadian nationals are still in favor of this healthcare system. To them, only the shortcomings should be addressed.
This is revealed in the reports showing the agony most of the patients goes through when accessing healthcare. These challenges that threaten to render the whole system unsustainable in the long run. There is a call to redesign the system in order to address the current weaknesses.
The average time a patient will wait for a doctor is very long as indicated by 59% of respondents in one survey who reveals that they take an average of four weeks before they can get to see the doctor. This situation is particularly common among those patients seeking specialized treatments in areas of sight restoration, diagnostic imaging scan, cardiac surgery and joint replacement.
This situation forced the federal government to device a 10 year plan in 2005 to see the issue solved. As much as the current data is showing a decreasing trend in wait time, the issue still emerges as the top of the concern among the majority of the Canadian population.
The issue has been so persistent forcing the federal government to take measures with the aim of addressing it. The year 2005 for instance saw the federal government and the provincial hospitals draw a ten year plan that would see the significant reduction in the average wait time. The problem has not yet been fully solved almost 10 years later.
Shortage of Doctors and Other Health Professionals. This is also a major concern as revealed by health surveys in Canada which put it at the second position after the wait time. The problem is largely explained by the immigration of doctors across the border to the United States where the average pay for a doctor is slightly higher than that of Canada. The result is that there are large numbers of patients seeking treatment against few health professionals available in public hospitals.
The other challenges that face the Canadian health system include shortage in bed capacity in many provincial hospitals. Some patients have to seek for alternative means of treatment while others have to be released earlier than their scheduled time because of this issue. This problem is largely attributed to inadequate funding from the public resources.
All these challenges in addition to smaller ones like shortage of beds in wards in a significant numbers of public hospitals and the concern that budgetary allocation towards this health policy put a lot of strains in this the economy increases concerns as to whether this policy will be sustainable in the long run.
Despite all these problems with universal healthcare in Canada, the current data shows a significant improvement particularly in wait time which is the number one concern. Other positive indicators in the Canadian healthcare include high scores in survival rates in breast cancer and other forms of cancers as compared to many other developed economies. The larger majority of Canadian nationals are still in favor of this healthcare system. To them, only the shortcomings should be addressed.
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