New Page — 9-1-1: Canada's Healthcare Crisis

Every Albertan should welcome this initiative with open arms, especially family physicians, emergency room physicians, and hospital administrators around the province, who are all overworked, over-stressed, and overdue for help. As a former resident of BC without a family doctor for two years, I would have been delighted. But sadly, the Alberta Medical Association has taken a very different approach despite calling for reforms from the government to alleviate the strains on hospitals and family medicine physicians.

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Blog Post Seven

As of next spring, I will have spent ten years in university or medical school training to get to this point - deciding what specialty to pursue as a physician. While family medicine should be a natural consideration, it's increasingly becoming the road less travelled for new graduates like me. The reasons are manifold, complex, and deeply rooted in the current state of Canada's healthcare system. Allow me to dissect why family medicine is losing its allure for the next generation of doctors.

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Blog Post Eight

NL has a golden opportunity to solve its surgical backlog problem because of the Premier's background as an accomplished surgeon. He is uniquely qualified to put NL at the forefront of fixing one of Canada’s healthcare system's most vexing problems, large and growing surgical backlogs. If someone as knowledgeable as Premier Furey cannot solve this problem then the rest of Canada’s premiers are in for a rough road in solving their own surgical backlog issues. Let's hope the financial resources are there to make this a seminal moment in NL's history.

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Blog Post Six

No matter what our Federal or Provincial Governments do, there will be a shortage of doctors in Canada for at least the next ten years. In a recent story from RBC (see in my news section), Canada is projected to have a shortage of approximately 44,000 physicians by 2028. It seems high to me, but the fact remains that physician shortages are here to stay. While our governments actively recruit foreign-trained doctors, this is not a long-term strategy to solve Canada’s physician shortage.

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Blog Post Five

According to the Fraser Institute's calculations, the private cost borne by Newfoundlanders was estimated to be $112,520,000 annually or $308,274 per day.

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Blog Post Four

While provincial governments often label every initiative as a "game-changer," the reality is that there are no game-changers. Instead, we make incremental changes routinely to eliminate inefficiencies, improve primary care access, and reduce surgical waiting times.

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Blog Post One

I decided to investigate the Canadian Health Care System to determine what was happening. I found lots of information from many sources, but no one put it all together to answer my two burning questions. 'Why is Canada's health care system broken, and how can it be fixed?' I couldn't find the answer, so I thought about starting a blog to find out and let the rest of Canada know what I discovered.

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Blog Post Three

Based on historical numbers of doctors per 100,000 Canadians, there is no shortage today, but 6 million Canadians without a family would argue differently. Two facts are true: we have more doctors today per 100,000 Canadians, 271 in 2019 per CMA, than we ever have, and 6 million Canadians are without a family physician.

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Blog Post Two

Well, we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Our provincial governments wanted to cap healthcare spending growth, so with little data, they set out to do just that. So let me make this bold statement at the start of this blog post:

Today’s Shortages Were Directly Caused by Short-Sighted Provincial Government Decisions

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Blog Post Eight Brief

If we're serious about tackling the physician shortage and improving access to primary care, we need to look beyond just recruiting foreign-trained doctors. We must expand the roles of pharmacists and nurse practitioners and adjust compensation packages for family physicians accordingly. Provincial medical boards need to plan for these inevitable changes now.

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Blog Post Six Brief

If we're serious about tackling the physician shortage and improving access to primary care, we need to look beyond just recruiting foreign-trained doctors. We must expand the roles of pharmacists and nurse practitioners and adjust compensation packages for family physicians accordingly. Provincial medical boards need to plan for these inevitable changes now.

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Blog Post Four Brief

It all begins with an idea.

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Blog Post Three Brief

Canada's doctor shortage is a complex issue that has been influenced by a variety of factors over the years. In this blog post, we delve into the intricacies of this problem, exploring the impact of the Barer-Stoddart Report, the influence of Steve Jobs and the rise of personal computing, and the critical role of data in understanding and addressing the shortage.

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Blog Post Two Brief

It all begins with an idea.

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Blog Post One Brief

It all begins with an idea.

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Blog Post Bit Seven

The math is bleak even if we only look at Canada, Australia, the UK and the USA. Combined, these four countries will be short more than 200,000 by 2030. Based on this prediction, Canada cannot expect to solve its doctor shortage by recruiting more foreign-trained physicians.

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Blog Post Bit Six

NL may be on the cusp of getting its surgical backlog under control, but if that does not happen the Fraser Institute has calculated how much it will cost Newfoundlanders in lost income and the government in lost income tax revenue - the numbers are staggering and they may be on the low side.

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Blog Post Bit Five

When Premier Tommy Douglas first proposed the idea of a public healthcare system in Saskatchewan he focused on universality and the importance of preventative care. He recognized the importance of focusing on preventive measures to improve the overall health of the population and reduce the burden of illness on the healthcare system.

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Blog Post Bit Four

There is no doubt that more money would solve some of Canada's healthcare problems; however, Canada is already spending more per capita than most other OECD nations, yet we are not achieving the results they are.

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Blog Post Bit Two

Potentially, a better way to increase healthcare capacity and physician efficiency is to train, retain and recruit more nurses from abroad. While nurses are also in short supply globally, they seem more plentiful and easier to recruit.

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Blog Post Bit One

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, virtual hospital care has emerged as a transformative solution that holds immense promise for improving healthcare delivery in Canada.

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Blog Post Bit Three

The issue most cited for Canada's healthcare crisis is the shortage of doctors, but our doctors are not to blame. If our doctors and nurses were the "cause" of our problems, we would be in good shape.

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@John Maddigan, 2023

Email: 911CHCC@gmail.com