N.L. releases 10-year Health Accord blueprint to revamp health-care system

Newfoundland and Labrador has revealed the blueprint that will guide its Health Accord, a plan that calls for dramatically changing spending over thenext 10 yearsto revamp how health care is delivered in the province.

The 262-page blueprint outlines 59 calls to action to improve the social determinants affecting health, provide more timely access to health care and create a more integrated, inclusive andsustainable health-care system.

The province's Health Accord committee, co-chaired by Sister Elizabeth Davis and Dr. Pat Parfrey, has been working on the plan since November 2020, with their final report was given to government in February.

It would cost the provincemore than $515million over the next 10 years to implement recommendations in the Health Accord, according to the blueprint,not counting funds needed fornew policies like a guaranteed basic income plan.

Recommendationsinclude mergingdifferent ambulance bodies into one provincial ambulance system, a 24-hour provincewide air ambulance serviceand the implementation of a provincial virtual emergency service.

The provincial government has recently made a push for virtual care and collaborative health-care clinics in an effort to address a provincewide shortage of doctors and other health-care professionals needed for anaging and migrating population.

More than 125,000 people in Newfoundland and Labrador don't havea family doctor, according to the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association.

The Health Accord also calls on the provincial government to create ways to improve the social determinants of health in Newfoundland and Labrador.

According to the report, the province has the lowest life expectancy, the highest level of complex health needs in children and the highest rate of deaths from heart disease, cancer and stroke in the country, despite spending the most money per capita of any province. Newfoundland and Labrador's suicide rate has also tripled since the 1980s.

To improve health outcomes related to social determinants, the Health Accord says theprovinceshouldimplement several new policies, includinga guaranteed basic income program,low-income support programand additionalseniors' benefits, that would cost an additional $852 million per year.

The committee is also calling for a provincial strategic plan to make sure the programs can be funded, along with negotiations with the federal government for increased funding, and says Newfoundland and Labrador should supporta national pharmacare program.

Climate change a key focus

The report also contains asection on howclimate changeis hurting health, especially in Labrador, negatively affecting access toclean air, water, nutritiousfood andshelter andhealth care. The committee also says the health-care system should become more "self-aware" in reducing its environmental footprint, adding it's no longer possible to ignore the health implications of climate change.

The provincial government says the blueprint will be reviewed in fullin the coming weeks.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador