In January, the Saskatchewan government launched a “Patient First Review” to examine patient experiences with our health care system as well as current administrative processes. The final report titled “For Patients’ Sake” was released on October 15th. It confirms what most people already know; that our health care system is failing both patients and providers. [...]

When I think about people who inspire me in the Canadian health care system I remember the stories of patients who have suffered much and yet were determined to use their experiences to help make some area of our system better. I think about doctors, nurses and other health care providers who have performed medical [...]

Every year Canada joins countries from around the world in recognizing the “right of individuals to access information held by public bodies”. This year, Canada celebrated “International Right to Know” day on September 28th and “Right to Know” week from September 28th to October 2nd. In addition to the federal Access to Information Act, each province [...]

All across the country hospitals are facing multimillion dollar budget deficits. As the highest cost of health care spending in Canada, we can expect funding cuts to our hospitals to continue at an alarming pace. One only has to look at the headlines of their local paper to see the astounding numbers. Perhaps the biggest [...]

In our current health care system the collaborative doctor-patient relationship based on trust and open communication seems more like the exception rather than the norm. There was a time when doctors were considered to be a patient’s best advocate. Today, the doctor-patient relationship has become as complex as the system itself with many of these [...]