Sisters Leslie Worthington and Val Lee had many questions surrounding the medical care their father John received prior to his death. The search for answers would lead their family through a bureaucratic maze, one that is replicated throughout the Canadian health care system. In today’s video clips Leslie Worthington and Val Lee talk about the bureaucracy of regional health authorities in the Canadian health [...]
When it comes to issues of patient safety, Alice Little isn’t afraid to ask tough questions. She’s determined to “fight on for others caught in an increasingly strange web where the Patient, for whom the system exists, counts least of all.” In today’s video clip Alice Little talks about transparency and accountability in Canadian health care. You can [...]
Patient safety advocates Mimi Raglan and Blake Taylor know firsthand the importance of being able to access the personal health information of a loved one. They started advocating for changes to their provincial legislation following the death of Mimi’s mother Frances. In today’s video clips Mimi and her husband Blake talk about improvements made to [...]
Canadian Patient Safety Week starts today and I thought it would be a good time to share videos about patient safety issues in our health care system. I don’t mean the usual wash your hands message directed at our health care providers. What I mean is straight talk about some of the underlying problems in [...]
Is your health and quality of life important to you? Are you tired of waiting on lists for medical care? Me too. Once upon a time Canadian patients sought access to high-quality medical care in hospitals. These days, patients are encouraged to avoid hospitals in which staff and bed shortages make lengthy ER waits and [...]
Last week the Canadian Medical Association released its Voices into Action report summarizing the feedback it received at its public town halls on Medicare. The same three questions provided a framework for discussion at each of the six town halls. The first question asked about broadening the Canada Health Act, the second about good value [...]
Alice Little retired from teaching more than twenty years ago. Since that time she has learned some important lessons about the Canadian health care system. Her patient experiences run the gamut from serving time on waiting lists for surgeries to surviving terminal cancer. Like many senior citizens in Canada, she worries about the state of [...]
The Canadian Medical Association partnered with L’actualité magazine to host a town hall discussing the future of Medicare on June 2, 2011, in La Prairie, Quebec. Panelists included the heads of the Quebec Medical Association, the Quebec Federation of Senior Citizens (FADOQ), the Council for the Protection of Patients, and the Priority Cancer Coalition. Some [...]
Last week I attended the Vancouver town hall on rebuilding Medicare. It’s one of five public events, make that six with the recent addition of Québec City, being hosted by the Canadian Medical Association and Maclean’s magazine. Many people, including some doctors and nurses, are calling for an expansion of Medicare to provide coverage for [...]
The heads of the Canadian Medical Association, the Alberta Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association and a former president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees all served as panelists at the Edmonton town hall on rebuilding Medicare held on March 29, 2011. Although it didn’t turn out to be as interesting as other recent events involving Alberta doctors, [...]