QUESTION PERIOD — Health
Pediatric Health Care
December 8, 2022
The question I have today is for the Government Representative in the Senate. Senator Gold, the crisis in pediatric hospitals has reached a new and worrying height. Earlier this week, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, CHEO, had to call in the Canadian Red Cross to support patient care during this extraordinarily difficult respiratory infection season.
An important underlying contributor to this acute crisis is the fact that our pediatric health care system is undersized and is unable to support our children and their complex and diverse health needs. Speaking to pediatric health care leaders, they’re worried about the backlog of children awaiting surgeries.
Today, of the children waiting for surgeries, 50% are waiting longer than is medically recommended — that compares to a pre‑pandemic number of 35%. One leader told me that this is probably one of the worst in the industrial world and called it embarrassing.
Senator Gold, what is the Government of Canada doing to work with provinces to increase the capacity of critical services for our children and families? After all, these are not issues that are going to go away after the flu season is over.
Thank you for the question and for underlining the challenges that all families in Canada are facing in this flu season.
I don’t need to remind the honourable senators or Canadians of the steps that they can take to protect themselves, whether masking, covering their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, staying home when sick and washing their hands.
The Government of Canada continues to work with the provinces and territories to address the challenges they are facing in the funding, management and organization of their health care services. For its part, the Government of Canada has taken significant steps by establishing the Coalition for Action for Health Workers to inform immediate and long-term solutions to address these challenges, including challenges in the workforce; introducing measures to facilitate the entry of foreign national physicians as permanent residents; and announcing a Chief Nursing Officer for Canada to provide strategic advice from a nursing perspective to Health Canada on priority, policy and program areas.
The government’s priority remains to do its part to work with provinces and territories and, as the Minister of Health has said on previous occasions, invite the provinces and territories and the leaders of those provinces and territories to allow the Ministers of Health to work with the Minister of Health of Canada to find durable solutions for the challenges that face us all.
In a recent statement, Senator Gold, Children’s Healthcare Canada, the Canadian Association of Paediatric Nurses and the Canadian Paediatric Society called on governments of all jurisdictions to work together to address the crisis in children’s health.
Children require specific and focused attention at this time, and emergency warrants special collaboration across all governments. Immediate investments are needed to increase capacity, support clinicians and, ultimately, help children.
Senator Gold, is the Government of Canada willing to sit down with the provinces to find solutions to the crisis in pediatric health care as a separate negotiation from an ongoing discussion on health transfers?
Thank you for the question. The short answer is yes, the government has always been willing to work with the provinces and territories not only to provide funding but also to contribute to creating a national vision for health care that delivers for all Canadians.
The government knows that the health care systems in Canada — because there are as many as there are provinces and territories — are facing significant challenges and that the only way out of this is to work together.
The government remains ready to work with provinces and territories to further discuss health care priorities, including pediatric care. That is the aim. The government is hoping it has the collaboration of the provinces to reduce backlogs, support health care workers, enhance access to family health services and — using the data that is gathered by the provinces with our digital technologies — better serve Canadians going forward.
