As befits a guy who has the most money to spend in government, Health Minister Adrian Dix has been a busy fellow these past few months.
In fact, it can be argued Dix is pushing what may be considered the biggest set of reforms to our public health system that have been seen in years.
He has been a whirlwind of activity. Seemingly, every week comes a major announcement about restructuring this or revamping that.
And judging from the reaction from medical professionals, for the most part Dix is hitting home runs.
Take the most recent announcement about the recruitment of 200 family doctors and 200 nurse practitioners. Such action is urgently required and long overdue.
More than 700,000 British Columbians lack access to a family physician and that number is growing. While the previous B.C. Liberal government promised to rectify the situation and guarantee a family doctor for everyone, it proved unable to fulfil a promise considered by many as unrealistic.
Dix’s vow to hire 200 more family doctors won’t solve the shortage problem, but it’s a healthy start. So is the decision to recruit all those nurse practitioners, who will be able to join team-based practices that can help families.
Dr. David Kim, president of the Resident Doctors of B.C., lauded the announcement, saying it would greatly benefit new physicians.
Another ambitious plan is to create a network of urgent care centres around the province, again using a team-based approach that includes various medical professionals. The three-year program should take some of the pressure off emergency rooms that often become clogged during times like flu season.
The team-based approach is key, and so is the fact that it is being phased in over three years, rather than being arbitrarily imposed on health authorities. A one-size-fits-all model may not work as well in all areas of the province, so taking the time to get it right is smart.
Last month, Dix announced a plan to perform 5,000 additional surgeries for hip and knee replacements – a 23 per cent increase in one year. There will be a new central surgery unit created at Vancouver General Hospital.
Then there is the decision to fund 37,000 more MRI procedures, a 20 per cent increase in one year.
This all costs money of course – lots of it. But Dix’s ministry does indeed have a lot of money, a fact that seems to be taken for granted by many folks these days.
This year alone will see the health budget receive an additional $850 million in new funding, bringing the total budget to a staggering $19.8 billion. Next year will see a further $870 million added, and the budget will exceed $21 billion the next year as well.
It is interesting that such budget increases – that $850 million increase exceeds the entire annual budget for all but five individual government ministries – merit little media coverage and spark little debate or reaction.
Our health-care system has become so vast and consumes so much funding that it appears to be a given that it will just keep expanding and continue with its voracious appetite for tax dollars.
But Dix’s planned overhaul faces non-monetary challenges too. Chief among them is ensuring there are enough medical professionals in the labour pool to provide this planned increase in surgeries and other areas of promised improvement.
The one initiative that has drawn criticism is Dix’s vow to crack down on private health clinics starting Oct. 1, and financially penalize physicians who bill patients in the private system.
Such a move could increase wait-lists in the public system, according to private clinic operators. Dix counters that clinics do mostly MRIs and joint replacement surgeries, the two areas that he has specifically targeted for big increases on the public side.
It will likely take a year or so to gauge the impact of the crackdown on private health care, and if wait times do indeed increase, this reform may have to be revisited.
In any event, I suspect Dix is not done yet. More reforms and change will follow, and that is likely good news for those who need to access the system.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC. Keith.Baldrey@globalnews.ca
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