Here’s the money, where’s the plan?

In the news release trumpeting new health-care funding the federal government is transferring to the provinces, one key line stands out.

“As part of these agreements, provincial and territorial governments are asked to develop action plans that will outline how funds will be spent and how progress will be measured.”

Provinces must have a plan and they must demonstrate it’s working.

Going into the recent meetings in Ottawa between the prime minister and provincial and territorial leaders, Angus Reid polled Canadians about their health-care experiences and whether they’d like more accountability baked into the Canada Health Transfer.

Thirty per cent of those polled across the country Feb. 1-3 told Angus Reid that the state of health care where they live is in crisis. In Atlantic Canada, that number rose to 51 per cent, with a further 33 per cent in this region describing health care delivery as poor.

When asked if the federal government should demand reforms from the provinces in order to access additional funds, Atlantic Canadian respondents were split down the middle – an equal 42 per cent were for and against.

The funding announced Feb. 7 appears to appease both sides by offering flexibility to apply the money where it is needed most while also demanding transparency about how it will be spent.

That transparency can start today. Surely the premiers travelled to Ottawa with a dollar figure in mind and some idea of what they needed to hear to address their provinces’ health-care challenges. Now that we know the dollar figure, it’s time to share the plan.

In Atlantic Canada, we are plagued with a shortage of health-care workers and long (sometimes fatally long) waits to see those who are left.

We know recruitment and retention of health workers is key to keeping beds open and moving patients through the system in a timely but safe manner.

The new funding includes immediate, unconditional dollars to address pressures like over-crowded emergency rooms and long wait times for surgeries.

Another pot of money is being tailored through bilateral agreements with each province to focus on four shared health priorities: family health care; health workforce and backlogs; mental health and substance use; and modernizing the health-care system with standardized information and digital tools.

Lori Turnbull, director of the school of public administration and an associate professor of political science at Dalhousie University, articulated what a lot of Atlantic Canadians are thinking.

“Even if we pour more money in, it seems that the problems continue,” she told SaltWire Network Feb. 8.

That’s why it’s important each province brings real solutions to the table when it comes to signing the bilateral agreements.

As Turnbull said, “What we are really seeing is a political, cultural kind of shift where I think people are far more willing to tolerate changes in how we deliver health care — if it means that the results will be better.”

More money alone won’t fix a broken system. We also need to see reform.