It’s time to make seniors care a national priority: CARP and CMA to host parallel roundtable at Premier’s meeting in Charlottetown

CMA CARP logo

 

 

 

For Immediate Release

Ottawa, Toronto (Aug. 25, 2014) The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) will co-host a seniors care roundtable on Aug. 28 in Charlottetown as a parallel event to the Council of Federation meeting.

Ministers, MPs and the Mayor of Charlottetown have been invited to the roundtable and the event is open to the public and media.

CARP and the CMAs seniors care roundtable discussion will help shape a national seniors strategy. The two organizations are working together to make a national seniors strategy a key priority in the upcoming federal election.

A joint letter [attached below] was sent to the chairs of the Health Care Innovation Working Group to encourage the Premiers to lead the establishment of a national seniors strategy that fully addresses the needs and expectations of an aging population. The letter identified five transformative goals for a national seniors strategy:

  • National standards ; benchmarks, and funding for access to high quality health care.
  • Equitable and timely access to care, treatment and medication regardless of residence, income, age or medical condition.
  • Modernize practice protocols ; infrastructure and training to deliver services that are patient focused and address emerging priorities, including the aging population and make optimal use of resources to ensure the sustainability of the system.
  • Public Accountability for standards of practice, responsible use of resources and transparency.
  • Support for healthy aging through health promotion and illness prevention programs.

Polling by the CMA and CARP recently has shown seniors health care to be a national priority issue. The CARP poll from Aug. 12 showed that CARP members think that the most useful outcome of the upcoming Council of the Federation meeting would be national standards for health care and a comprehensive national seniors health care strategy. CMAs report released on Aug. 18 showed that 95% of respondents support the need for a national strategy for seniors health care.

Event details:

Date: Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014
Time: 1 p.m. 2:30 p.m.
Location: Confederation Centre of the Arts Memorial hall
145 Richmond St, Charlottetown
Hosts: Dr. Chris Simpson, President, CMA
Ms. Susan Eng, VP Advocacy, CARP
Media: Open to media and public

 

CARP is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization committed to advocating for a New Vision of Aging for Canada, social change that will bring financial security, equitable access to health care and freedom from discrimination. CARP seeks to ensure that the marketplace serves the needs and expectations of our generation and provides value-added benefits, products and services to our members. Through our network of chapters across Canada, CARP is dedicated to building a sense of community and shared values among our members in support of CARPs mission. www.CARP.ca

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is the national voice of Canadian physicians. Founded in 1867, the CMA is a voluntary professional organization representing more than 80,000 of Canadas physicians and comprising 12 provincial and territorial medical associations and 60 national medical organizations. CMAs mission is to serve and unite the physicians of Canada and be the national advocate, in partnership with the people of Canada, for the highest standards of health and health care. www.CMA.ca

 

Contact:

Steve Wharry
Canadian Medical Association
Cell: 613-298-4669

 

Sarah Park
CARP
[email protected]
Mobile: 416-569-0981

 

 

 

 

 

August 13,2014

Hon. Dave Hancock
Premier of Alberta
Executive Branch
408 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6[email protected] 
Hon. Darrell Pasloski
Premier of Yukon
Government of Yukon
Box 2703
Whitehorse, YK Y1A 2C6[email protected] 
Hon. Kathleen Wynne
Premier of Ontario
Legislative Building, Room 281
Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON M7A1A1[email protected] 
 

Re: Council of the Federation Seniors Care Working Group

Dear Premiers Hancock, Pasloski and Wynne:

On behalf of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), we are writing regarding the future mandate of the Council of the Federations Seniors Care Working Group.

CARP is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization with a membership of over 300,000 from across Canada committed to a New Vision of Aging for Canada promoting social change that will bring financial security, equitable access to health care and freedom from discrimination. The CMA is the national professional organization representing over 80,000 physicians across Canada.

CARP and the CMA are working together to make a seniors strategy a key advocacy priority in the upcoming elections. To that end, we encourage the Council of the Federation to lead the establishment of a national seniors strategy that fully addresses the needs and expectations of an aging population. Health care, financial security, individual rights to equitable treatment and care as well as freedom from abuse are all part of the complex equation in ensuring that our quality of life is enhanced, not diminished, as we all age.

Canadians of all ages should have equitable and timely access to high quality health care regardless of their income or where they live in the country. Older Canadians often face the additional challenges of chronic illness and the need for post-acute care, dementia care and end-of-life care at a time in their lives when income and social supports may have diminished. All of these factors contribute to the urgency of establishing and advancing a comprehensive seniors strategy.

The health care system is struggling to meet these challenges and single issue measures with limited scope will not be enough. There is an opportunity to innovate on a broad scale to achieve transformative goals:

  • National standards, benchmarks, and funding for access to high quality healthcare;
  • Equitable and timely access to care, treatment and medication regardless of residence, income, age or medical condition;
  • Modernize practice protocols, infrastructure and training to deliver services that are demonstrably patient focused and address emerging priorities including the aging population and make optimal use of resources to ensure the sustainability of the system;
  • Public Accountability for standards of practice, responsible use of resources and transparency
  • Supporting healthy ageing through health promotion and illness prevention programs.

Consideration of specific initiatives would then be subject to these overriding goals and they would include pharmacare, home care and caregiver support, dementia care, end-of-life care, wait times guarantees, long term care funding insurance and an integrated continuum of care.

For example, specific measures dealing with home and community-based long term care might include:

  • Developing an action plan to adopt best practices in integrating all elements of continuing care within the continuum of care and ensuring seamless access for patients;
  • Setting standards and benchmarks for home care and long-term care;
  • Increasing access and reducing wait times for home care and long-term care;
  • Delivering caregiver support, including financial, training, and respite; and,
  • Identifying federal levers that support provincial/territorial strategies, such as making the Family Caregivers Tax Credit refundable, tax incentives for long term care insurance and delivering federal infrastructure funding for long-term care, assisted living, and seniors facilities.

 

We would be pleased to meet with you in advance of, or in parallel to, the annual summer meeting of the Council of the Federation to discuss the future focus of the Seniors Care Working Group in greater detail, including how our organizations may contribute to this initiative.

 

Sincerely,

Dr. Chris Simpson
President-elect
CMA
Ms. Susan Eng
Vice President, Advocacy
CARP

cc.

Ontario Minister of Health and Long-term Care Dr. Eric Hoskins
Yukon Minister of Health and Social Services Doug Graham
Alberta Minister of Health Fred Horne
Saskatchewan Minister of Health Dustin Duncan