COLUMN: Viewpoint – Health for all

Imagine that every community in Canada had a free public primary health care centre staffed by a trained multi-disciplinary team of experts ready to meet all the basic medical needs of the local people. That’s the vision Dr. Jane Philpott proposes in her new book Health for All.

She reminds us that no matter what community you move to in Canada you can expect to find free public elementary and secondary schools staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of experts ready to meet all the basic education needs of local children and teenagers.

Philpott believes if Canada has managed to provide that kind of service in the education sphere we can do the same thing with health care. She says many European countries have primary health care facilities in every community and Canada could easily follow suit.

If millions of children were waiting in line, sometimes for years, to receive admittance to our public schools so they could have their education needs met, we would consider it a national disaster. And yet, Philpott points out, millions of Canadians are waiting in line, sometimes for years, to receive admittance to the case load of a local family doctor to have their medical needs met. That should be considered a national disaster.

Philpott is a former Liberal member of the House of Commons and served in cabinet as the health minister. A family physician with many years of experience Philpott is well aware that one of the major problems in our medical system is a lack of family physicians. Philpott who is currently the Dean of Medicine at Queens University has set up a unique and multi-faceted program there that recruits, encourages and supports medical students who want to become family doctors. Universities across the country need to follow suit.

One of the reasons for the family doctor shortage is most family physicians have to set up and finance their own clinics, hire staff and maintain facilities, while often receiving less pay than other kinds of doctors. Many work much longer hours than other types of physicians since there is such a shortage of family practitioners.

Philpott’s proposed primary care facilities would be maintained and staffed by the government. They would hire salaried family doctors to work there. If a community grew in size more staff would be added to the care facility or a new one would be built. This would mean family doctors would not burn out trying to serve such large populations, nor would they bear the cost of running their own clinics. Philpott feels this would make the field of family medicine much more attractive to new doctors.

In Health for All Philpott uses real scenarios to illustrate how the overburdening of our health care system comes as a result of the many unmet social needs in Canada. People who lack safe, affordable housing, live in poverty, are experiencing food insecurity, struggle with addictions, or are alone without family support, are much more likely to end up needing medical care. By investing in solutions to those areas of social need we would greatly reduce the demands on our health care system.

How hard would it be to implement the changes Philpott is suggesting? She says from her years in cabinet she knows that when there is enough political will, there is a way to make major shifts in policy and programs. One need only look at the many health care initiatives Philpott succeeded in championing during her time in office to know she is right. I often wish she was still our health minister.