The Universal Healthcare has been hailed as a holy grail of Canadian society. Many of the health reports published paint this publicly funded health system as a reflection of their core values. Such conclusions are easily made basing on the surveys that put Canadian satisfaction rate with the health system at 85%. There are however several problems with universal healthcare in Canada that have persisted over time.
The publicly funded health system is facing major challenges that threaten to render it unsustainable in the long run. The major areas of concerns include the patient average wait time, the shortage of professional medical personnel and the increasing challenges of funding.
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.
Long Waiting Time. Survey after survey conducted on the Canadian healthcare and its challenges put waiting time at the top of their list of concerns. This is an area in which Canada scores very low as compared to many other nations despite the fact that the same country ranks highly when it comes to basic healthcare. A Commonwealth survey conducted in 2010 for instance put the percentage of patients waiting for specialists for a period of four weeks at 59% which is double that of United States.
The concern forced the government to develop a plan to address the issue in provincial hospitals by reducing wait time particularly in the areas of cancer, heart diseases, diagnostic imaging, sight restoration and joint replacement. The plan was enrolled in 2005 but the latest surveys still indicate waiting time as their number one concern. This is persistent in the areas of specialized surgery and elective surgery where this country continues to score poorly.
Canadian nurses on the other hands have their issues. They have put forward a demand that the number of nurses be increased. In addition to this, improvement in the quality of education and expansion to their working scope also falls in to the list of their concerns. Given the pivotal role these nurses play in health sector, their demands cannot be ignored.
Nurses on the other hand have continuously expressed their dissatisfaction as they want the number of nurses significantly increased. Improvement in nursing education and maximization of the scope of nursing practice also form parts of their demands. Such shortages in numbers of doctors and nurses only increases the wait time in public hospitals.
The government directs a huge portion of the budget into funding of the public healthcare. The strain has seen the national insurance failing to cover some supplemental benefits such as dental care. This means that the patients have to turn to private sources for treatments in such areas.
This means that the most cherished national treasure in Canada is at stake and something must be done. As currently structured, administered and financed, this system will need a radical surgery in order to give the true value to Canadians.
The publicly funded health system is facing major challenges that threaten to render it unsustainable in the long run. The major areas of concerns include the patient average wait time, the shortage of professional medical personnel and the increasing challenges of funding.
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.
Long Waiting Time. Survey after survey conducted on the Canadian healthcare and its challenges put waiting time at the top of their list of concerns. This is an area in which Canada scores very low as compared to many other nations despite the fact that the same country ranks highly when it comes to basic healthcare. A Commonwealth survey conducted in 2010 for instance put the percentage of patients waiting for specialists for a period of four weeks at 59% which is double that of United States.
The concern forced the government to develop a plan to address the issue in provincial hospitals by reducing wait time particularly in the areas of cancer, heart diseases, diagnostic imaging, sight restoration and joint replacement. The plan was enrolled in 2005 but the latest surveys still indicate waiting time as their number one concern. This is persistent in the areas of specialized surgery and elective surgery where this country continues to score poorly.
Canadian nurses on the other hands have their issues. They have put forward a demand that the number of nurses be increased. In addition to this, improvement in the quality of education and expansion to their working scope also falls in to the list of their concerns. Given the pivotal role these nurses play in health sector, their demands cannot be ignored.
Nurses on the other hand have continuously expressed their dissatisfaction as they want the number of nurses significantly increased. Improvement in nursing education and maximization of the scope of nursing practice also form parts of their demands. Such shortages in numbers of doctors and nurses only increases the wait time in public hospitals.
The government directs a huge portion of the budget into funding of the public healthcare. The strain has seen the national insurance failing to cover some supplemental benefits such as dental care. This means that the patients have to turn to private sources for treatments in such areas.
This means that the most cherished national treasure in Canada is at stake and something must be done. As currently structured, administered and financed, this system will need a radical surgery in order to give the true value to Canadians.
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