Steinbach MLA and Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Kelvin Goertzen says that the province has received a report commissioned in 2015 on planning options for clinical and preventive health-care services for Manitoba.
“The previous government commissioned a report in 2015 to provide recommendations for ways to move Manitoba toward an evidence-based health services plan,” said Goertzen. “The resulting document will be reviewed and the recommendations considered as we move forward with determining the sustainable future of health care in Manitoba.”
The Provincial Clinical and Preventive Services Planning for Manitoba report was procured in 2015 by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) and was prepared over a 15-month time frame by a team from Health Intelligence Inc. and Associates, led by Dr. David Peachey.
Factors taken into consideration in the development of the report include detailed analyses of data reflecting the health needs of Manitobans, interviews with key stakeholders from across the province including clinical leaders in major specialties, the need for physicians and other health-care providers and the economic realities in Manitoba, among others.
Recommendations include the further consolidation of hospital-based, high-acuity health-care services in the province, new team-based models of care to ensure all professionals are working to their full scopes of practice, better use of technologies like Telehealth to reduce transportation costs and enhanced prevention programs to reduce the burden of disease.
The review identified 10 priority areas as key to Manitoba achieving an effective and sustainable health system that is patient-focused and evidence-based, and improves access to quality care for patients. Key priority areas are:
- care of older adults as the population continues to age,
- collaborative care with strong connections between health-care providers to ensure quality primary care,
- consolidated services that will improve access to care,
- emergency medical and health services,
- home care,
- co-ordinated care for Indigenous peoples,
- maternal health-care services,
- mental health and addictions,
- palliative care, and
- public and preventive population health.
“The system we have now is not sustainable and will be even less so as federal funding for health care continues to erode,” said Goertzen. “Our government thanks Dr. Peachey and his team for their hard work and recommendations, and will include them in our consideration of how we can make our system better and affordable into the future.”
