O O Ø O O O O
Concrete
The Honourable Iris Evans
Minister of Health and Wellness
107 Legislature Building
10800 - 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
T5K 2B6
Ms. Evans;
You don’t know me. My name is Kjell Wooding. I’m a card-carrying member of the PC party of Alberta (note to regular pintday.org readers: long story. Short version—I was drunk.) and co-publisher of the weekly internet serial pintday.org.
Now there’s no question that health care is becoming a big issue. There is also no question that the quality of health care is slipping in this province. If you need proof of that, just grab a half-dozen people at random off the street, and ask them what they think.
I recently came across a list of bullet points which summarized the International Health Symposium, held in Calgary back in May. If you don’t mind, I’ll just quote from the press release here:
- There is no single solution to health care, but rather improvements must evolve over time;
- Improvements must focus on the patient and evidence-based outcomes;
- Solutions must meet your own society’s expectations and values;
- An attitude of openness is necessary for new possibilities and the best health care options;
- Change in health care systems should be evolutionary and entrepreneurial;
- Collaboration among professionals is vital;
- Quality care is achieved when health teams learn together and act accordingly; and
- Change must be focused on what will work and what will make a positive difference to the health of the population.
I can appreciate that these types of events can be a little hard to summarize, Ms. Evans, but I think the bullet points above can be summarized in one little word:
Duh.
For years now, Alberta has been talking about “improving health care” with ephemeral “public-private partnerships” and “evolutionary” changes. In all those years, however, we have not heard talk of anything concrete. We have not heard of any concrete plans, or more importantly, concrete deliverables for improving our health care system.
Concrete, Ms. Evans, is what Alberta should be all about. Let the other provinces talk. Let Alberta do.
Concerned with this state of affairs, I did some thinking. I also solicited the opinions a number of my concerned Albertan colleagues. (Ship and Anchor, Tuesdays. Feel free to join us anytime). Together, we came up with a four-point plan to get us started.
- Every Albertan should have a family doctor.
It took me many, many months of trying to find a family doctor that would take me as a patient. I still haven’t found one that will take both me and my wife. This is ludicrous. How many people need to die of diseases that could have been treated with early detection before we fix this? Why do I have to consider myself lucky to find a GP who is accepting new patients?
Ms. Evans, my dentist calls me twice a year to schedule checkups. Why can’t I expect the same from a family doctor? Why aren’t they fighting for my business?
- Encourage Annual Physicals.
Pre-emptive medicine should be a cornerstone for any reasonably efficient health-care system, yet booking an annual physical is sufficiently painful that most people simply opt to wait until they get sick. Why? Because Doctors don’t want to do them. Every GP I talked to books patients into 10-minute slots. If a patient takes up more than their allotted 10 minutes, the doctors are effectively losing revenue. Clearly, physical examinations (of the rubber-glove or Pap smear kind) take more than the allotted 10 minutes, so most family doctors don’t do more than a handful a week. This means 6-month waiting lists for most practitioners.
The solution is simple: pay more for annual examinations. Catch things before they become a problem.
- Get enough Doctors.
You say we don’t have enough doctors in the province? Well here’s an easy fix: offer free Medical-school tuition in Alberta. Call it a loan, and say the whole amount is forgiven if the recipient practices in Alberta for 4 years (2 rural) after graduation.
- Fix the Specialist Backlogs.
Nobody likes waiting around for a specialist appointment when their health is at stake, least of all when it is a potentially life threatening issue. The answer would seem to be simple: catalog every specialist service in the industry, and record its average wait-list time. In fact, if we don’t have this information already, I would recommend you fire your entire staff and start over. This stuff would seem to be utterly basic in making any decisions on improving health care.
With catalog in hand, pick a delivery target that the average Albertan would be happy with (say, 1 month), and work to getting all wait times below this number. Yes, this may require additional specialists and/or facilities. Contract it out. Invoke your three Ps. Just get it done.
Ms. Evans, Alberta has always been a shut-up-and-do-it kind of province. That’s how we killed the debt. That’s how we need to fix health care. If we focus on just these four little items, I would expect our health care system to be the best in the world within a decade. So, next time we host the International Health Symposium, it will be Alberta that’s telling the world how to do things, and not the other way around.
Cheers, and Good Health.
Kjell Wooding
August 2, 2005
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August 3rd, 2005 at 1:10 pm
I don’t have a doctor.
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August 3rd, 2005 at 10:18 pm
I haven’t had a family doctor in 10+ years. Coincidentally the same length of time I have lived in Alberta.
A while ago I had to deal with an insurance claim (a whole other scam rant belongs here). I was told that it looked bad that I kept seeing different doctors. I tried to make appointments with the doctors I had seen and was told “we don’t make appointments”!
August 4th, 2005 at 12:43 pm
A perfect example of the problems with the system. I haven’t seen a doctor in almost 2 years. I just don’t get sick…although I probably should do the physical thing.
And what’s up with the leading space removal thing in these posts? My smiley is losing it’s leading spaces on the first and last row!
August 4th, 2005 at 2:48 pm
HTML eats multiple spaces.
August 4th, 2005 at 7:51 pm
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August 16th, 2005 at 2:56 pm
Kjell: Just read Concrete above and you have provided a good appreciation of the problem and some good ptential solutions. unfortunately, it is only mental maturbation unless you get in front of Ms. Evans and also in front of a large number of voters who will support these views. Polititians respond to only to large numbers of organized voters so now the question is how to get people behind your ideas.
I suggest that we form a “policy group” that puts your thoughts into a policy paper that is released tothe pess and to as many blogs as possible then present it to the Minister as a series of questions demanding replies. If I can help, just ask.
We will have to have a beer again with your dad at the Ship and Anchor.
Good health
Bob Bolton
September 9th, 2005 at 11:37 pm
Ummm …. my GP rocks.
She schedules 15 minute appointments for everyday stuff and 30 minute appointments for you annual exams. You rarely have to wait in the waiting room. You usually have to wait about a month for an annual exam but if you just need a regular appointment it is a week or two (earlier if you beg, sometimes same day). If you are trying a new drug, she arranges a follow-up for you no matter what. So if it doesn’t work, you already have the appointment made. She’s nice and thorough.
To reiterate, my GP rocks.
But my GP shouldn’t rock, that is, every GP should be as good as she is and be given the time, money and resources to accomplish this. She is the standard that our government needs to encourage for proper health care.
I also think we need to have free prescription drugs because if you can’t afford them, you can’t get better, which means bigger doctors bills in the long run.
Yippee! This is my first post ever.