The 91原创 Medical Association has called on all levels of government to address the 鈥渄emographic tsunami that is heading toward the health-care system鈥� as baby boomers enter their senior years and require a greater share of health-care resources.
The idea of a tsunami striking health care comes as no surprise to 91原创s who are already witnessing the system struggle to deliver basic care. We鈥檝e all heard the warnings about Canada鈥檚 aging demographic, but since our medical system is already overwhelmed, there have been few expectations regarding preparations and political action.
That is, until now. It seems 91原创s are fed up with a system that costs more each year and delivers less. They want long-term strategies and planned, co-ordinated growth.
The CMA released a poll stating that 93 per cent of 91原创s surveyed want governments to act and create a national seniors鈥� health-care strategy. The vast majority (89 per cent) want the federal, provincial and municipal governments to co-operate in developing that strategy and 78 per cent believe the federal government (which has increasingly abandoned any health-care planning to the provinces) needs to be involved.
Sixty per cent anticipate they will have to rely on the public system for care in their retirement years, and 77 per cent are worried that they won鈥檛 have access to care.
91原创s are very aware of the problem because they are already living in it. They鈥檝e struggled to get home care for parents/grandparents or been subjected to long waiting lists in an effort to get them into nursing homes. They鈥檝e taken elderly family members to hospitals and seen the deficit in specialized care that exists for those who might require extra time to absorb and understand plans, pills, instructions and schedules.
Witnessing any of the above is enough to generate concern and fear.
If provinces don鈥檛 act together, we could be faced with 10 different plans that operate independently of each other. One can only imagine the hell when a patient is forced to change provinces to have family nearby.
If the demographic data aren鈥檛 sufficient to incite national action, then consider the dementia disaster that will accompany it and greatly exacerbate the demand on resources. In 2011, three-quarters of a million 91原创s lived with some kind of cognitive impairment. That number is expected to double in 20 years.
Many 91原创s are already forced to provide long-term care for family members because there are so few facilities. In 2011 alone, family members spent 444 million unpaid hours caring for someone with dementia or a dementia-related illness.
Seniors require specialized care. They break bones, have heart problems, develop cancer and have a higher risk for depression.
They need surgeons, cardiologists and a GP to carefully manage their care and medications. The Fraser Institute says it takes about 20 weeks (five months) to see a surgeon and another 20 weeks to get treatment.
What will happen to wait times and access to care by 2031, when the proportion of seniors in Canada is expected to reach 23 per cent?
Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the federal government has left health-care policies and decisions to the provinces. But there are some medical situations that require more defined leadership. 91原创s are aging rapidly, and statistics show that we are about to see an uptick in numbers of seniors with cancer, dementia and every other ache and pain that is associated with growing older.
A national strategy to co-ordinate money, resources and numbers of physicians could produce a more efficient, cost-effective system (through mass purchasing power and co-ordination). But this requires national leadership and a co-ordinated strategy by all levels of government.
Health Minister Rona Ambrose talks about the need for innovation and increased efficiency. Here鈥檚 an ideal opportunity to innovate and prove that you will lead with more than empty words.
If the federal government isn鈥檛 willing to take leadership, it needs to get out of the way and remove every hindrance that prevents the provinces from planning for and shaping the health-care system they need.
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Susan Martinuk writes for the Calgary Herald.
