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Speak Up

The Department of Health represents the largest single portion of New Brunswick's operational expenses. If the cost of delivering health care cannot be reduced, the department will eventually eat up half the provincial budget. This has driven politicians to talk about the need for health care reform.

Unfortunately, New Brunswick's legislators have not progressed much beyond talking. Government and opposition are still arguing over the merits of public-private partnerships. Neither party has produced a strategy that outlines New Brunswick's health care goals or the types of reforms required to achieve them. Without such a strategy, it is very difficult to judge the value of any individual health care proposal.

This province needs a plan to bring the utilization of diagnostic equipment up while knocking surgical wait times down.

MRIs, CT and PET scanners have revolutionized medicine, allowing doctors to diagnose without invasive surgery. These instruments cost vast sums of money, and they become outdated at the same rate, whether they are used often or occasionally. It's better for taxpayers and patients if they're used as often as possible.

The utilization rate for high-tech scanners is relatively low; in most facilities, they operate on a days-only schedule, Monday to Friday. This limits the value hospitals can get out of these costly machines before they must be replaced. It also limits the number of patients who can be diagnosed in a day, adding to waiting lists. The longer patients wait, the sicker they get, and the more it costs the government to treat them.

Health care would cost less and be more effective if patients were diagnosed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additional money could be saved by clustering diagnostic equipment at regional surgical centres, shortening the distance between diagnosis and treatment and ensuring there are enough skilled staff to operate the machines at peak efficiency.

There's more than one way to achieve theses objectives. But to weigh one proposal against another, government must determine what outcome it wants to achieve and establish a timeline for action.