Ontario Nurses group calls for community care act - Registered Nurses Association of Ontario - Brief Article

Community Action, April 15, 2002

TORONTO -- In a debate that has focussed largely on restricting health care programs and defending principles of Canada's medicare system, the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario calls for an expansion of the national health system.

The RNAO told the Romanow Commission that health care must start providing Canadians with Medicare coverage where they increasingly need it - in their homes and communities. The RNAO, which is the largest organization of health care professionals in Canada, was asked by Commissioner Roy Romanow to submit more details of their proposals. Registered RNAO president Shirlee Sharkey proposed that the federal government create a "Community Care Act" that would extend the principles of the Canada Health Act to necessary services, such as public health, primary health care, home care, rehabilitation, palliative care, eldercare, and pharmacare. Sharkey said this expansion is the kind of modernization and innovation that the health-care system needs - not user fees, for-profit care, or other discredited experiments which RNAO calls on the Commission to reject "a health-care caste system." Sharkey told Romanow. Sharkey said that the evidence and advantages of a publicly funded, nonprofit health-care system are clear - better health outcomes, cheaper delivery for governments, reduced costs to do business.

The principles of medicare, which now apply to hospital and medical care, need to extend to the community sector, said Sharkey.

"Building a solid community sector will save - not swamp - health care. An efficient, seamless system will provide better access to the health care Canadians need, in the right place, and by the right professional (not only the most expensive). It will enhance timely access, it will save costs, and it will ease human suffering," she said.

Other recommendations in RNAO'S submission, More of a Good thing: the Facts and Foundations for Expanding Medicare, include:

* provide predictable and stable funding for the health-care system;

* the federal government must increase the cash portion of the Canada Health and Social Transfer to 25% of provincial spending and earmark it for specific community programs;

* provinces must commit to maintaining their own funding in the face of increased federal transfers;

* funding must flow from the provinces to health-care organizations in a manner that will facilitate long-term planning of services and full utilization of all health-care professionals;

* the government should not re-open the Canada Health Act, given the powerful lobby to dismantle Medicare;

* implement primary healthcare reform, with 24/7 care, emphasizing health promotion and illness prevention, and delivered by interdisciplinary teams of health-care professionals;

* cancel any further federal (or provincial) tax cuts;

* call a moratorium on any new privatization or for-profit delivery of necessary health-care services;

* exempt health and other social services from all international trade agreements. 800-268-7199 x209