The Health Accord team has released its vision for improving the health of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians over the next ten years and it includes 57 separate Calls to Action.
The document was presented to government this morning and was released publicly this afternoon.
(Photo via Gov NL.)
(Photo via Gov NL.)
The Health Accord is suggesting the reorganization of services provided by 23 health centres in the province “to reflect population needs.”
They’re also recommending the creation of an Occupational Health Clinic and what they’re calling an integrated and planned hospital system.
It also recommends changes to pathology and laboratory medicine as a provincial networked service based on hub and spoke modeling.
Social issues that need to be addressed according to the Health Accord include building greater awareness about the social determinants of health, addressing the climate emergency, creating a provincial Pathway for Inclusion, livable and predictable basic income for families, and improved approaches to elder care including addressing ageism and helping to build age-friendly communities.
Two further documents are expected to be submitted at a later date, with an Implementation Blueprint which will outline possible steps to be taken in response to the Calls to Action.
(Photo via Gov NL.)
Earlier Story
The provincial government is being presented with the Health Accord, but it will be next month before the public gets a better sense of what changes may be made to health care and health care delivery in the province.
Health Minister John Haggie says the Health Accord involved 18 months of consultations.
He says it became apparent that something in the way that health care is delivered needed to change.
He says successive governments have put more and more money into health care, but health care outcomes are no better than they were 15 years ago.
(Photo via Gov NL.)
(Photo via Gov NL.)
That, says Haggie, “is because we’re a pretty unhealthy bunch,” compared to mainland Canada.
What he asked of Sister Elizabeth Davis and Dr. Pat Parfrey was
to figure out how to do things differently to change our health care outcomes and make us among the healthiest people in the country.
