Health-care systems that were already struggling due to insufficient resources are now trying to clear huge backlogs in cancer screening and treatment that built up during the COVID pandemic. Aestimated that, if the problem wasn’t fixed, there would be more than 21,000 excess cancer deaths by 2030.
What has become clear in recent years is that Canada’s health system problems are disproportionately affecting cancer care and that the biggest threat to that care is maintaining the status quo of how our health systems are organized. Provincial and territorial governments made a good start last year at their Council Of The Federation meeting in Victoria. This was followed by health-care agreements between the federal government and each province to start addressing some key parts of improving access to care, including cancer.