In the midst of what many are calling a national health-care crisis, provincial and territorial health ministers began a two-day series of meetings in Charlottetown Wednesday.As the meeting of health ministers began in Charlottetown, groups of professionals delivering care to Canadians issued a call for immediate action.
The statement said Canadians facing overcrowded emergency rooms and struggling to access care "are losing hope in their health care system." Representatives from the association spent time this week touring one of P.E.I.'s new collaborative care clinics where doctors and other medical professionals work as part of an integrated health-care team.
" public dollars for health care to go into private agencies is losing a huge chunk of money that we need to put into investing into our own, publicly delivered health-care system," said Barbara Brookins, president of the P.E.I. Nurses Union, which represents more than 1,300 RNs and nurse practitioners.
Barbara Brookins, president of the P.E.I. Nurses Union, says privatization, the use of agency nurses, and violence in the workplace will be discussed during the meetings. McLane said Canada has to train more health-care workers or import them from abroad — rather than have provinces try to outbid each other for existing workers.