QUALITY OF LIFE: WE CAN AFFORD TO CARE
HEALTHCARE:
PREVENTION AT SOURCE
Our healthcare system is not sustainable. Ontario's population is aging and medical technology is becoming more sophisticated and expensive. We will need ever increasing amounts of healthcare funding unless we seriously begin a real prevention-of-illness health strategy. Under our current healthcare system, some preventive healthcare does occur through patient education and screening, but this is just the beginning of illness prevention.
The biggest threats to health are complex factors such as unemployment/under-employment, poverty, stress, and pollution, and proximity to health-service. Directly addressing these factors will lead to a healthier population and help stabilize future healthcare costs. The Green Party proposes that the cost of current health services be partially offset by a special health tax on a wide range of health-damaging commodities and activities, including pollution, resource depletion, unhealthy foods, and addictive drugs such as tobacco.
The deterrent effect of these targeted taxes, combined with much earlier "structural factors" illness prevention strategy, will gradually guide us toward financially sustainable provision of public healthcare. In fact, political parties that claim the status quo is satisfactory represent as much a threat to the long-term survival of universal public healthcare as do the more blatant privatization advocates.
The Greens support these preventive healthcare programs:
- an enhanced partnership-based First Nations health initiative that would progressively bring health status indicators in line with Provincial averages;
- enhanced public education and PRACTICAL school programs on lifestyle changes and choices that contribute to disease prevention (i.e. school cafeteria’s could serve only healthy food) ;
- research and funding complementary/alternative medicine that is effective and affordable;
- more public information on the advantages of breast-feeding, plus extended postnatal support and maternity/parental leave;
- tax shift onto goods that cause poor health, such as tobacco, alcohol, and especially junk food; ensuring access to clean air, water and food through sound stewardship policies;
- reducing toxins in our environment through stronger and better enforced legislation;
- reducing family, workplace and financial stress through anti-poverty and workplace policies;
- improved food labelling to create more awareness of nutrients, pollutants; and genetic modification in our food;
- expanded injury prevention programs and improved school and workplace fitness programs;
- We would not support for-profit hospitals in Ontario given evidence that they have higher mortality rates than non-profit hospitals.
FOR PHYSICIAN-UNDER-SERVICED AREAS.
- We would increase medical training positions
to a point that slightly exceeds the supply of family physicians relative
to projected demand for their services.
- We would continue to develop and further enhance the new Medical School in Northern Ontario.
- We would set aside 25% of all medical school positions (with free tuition included) for new medical students prepared to contract for a minimum five-years practice in an under-serviced area of Ontario.
- To improve retention, we would promote a multi-physician recruitment model for under-serviced areas to keep physician workloads reasonable and sustainable.
- We would provide an immediate one-year only moving allowance and bonus to U.S based Canadian physicians who are prepared to return and set up practice (for at least four years) in an under-serviced area of Ontario (which is now most of the Province thanks in part to the NDP government cut-back of medical school positions in the early 1990's).
FOR THE CRISIS IN NURSING CARE.
A general shortage of nurses and terrible work conditions are threatening Ontario's healthcare system. Strong action is required now to turn this situation around.
The Green Party would:
- significantly increase the number of nurses working in Ontario through enhanced financial and educational opportunities;
- fully subsidize nursing’s education tuition fees for the next eight years;
- improve working conditions by spreading the workload onto more nurses and immediately implementing a well-publicized "zero-tolerance" policy on workplace violence.
- mandate and fund hospitals to hire additional
non-medical staff to free up nurses for patient
care. - dramatically reduce current federal bureaucratic
barriers to rapid employment of qualified foreign-trained nurses in Ontario.
(If necessary this might even require Ontario to negotiate the immigration
portfolio away from the federal government as has been done in Quebec).