Thank you, Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Nick Busing, president and CEO of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada.
My association, AFMC, represents the 17 faculties of medicine in Canada. We have a tripartite mission: undertaking health research to improve the lives of Canadians, educating future physicians of Canada, and providing clinical care in all settings, with a focus on the tertiary and quaternary environment.
Today I wish to focus on health research and on health human resources that are required for our mission and for the country. We can measure our prosperity and our competitiveness by looking at the research and developments taking place in Canada. The benefits of health research are seen across the country, in direct impacts upon the health of all Canadians, in identifying system-wide improvements to the delivery of health care, in creating economic benefits to the training of knowledge workers, and in providing widespread employment opportunities. The benefits of health research accrue over time and can only occur in an environment of sustained and long-term investments.
In recent years we in Canada have made impressive gains. We are equipping our major research institutions for the future through the CFI program, in partnership with the provincial governments. We have recruited and retained an impressive array of Canada research chairs to take advantage of our array of investments in infrastructure. In fact, many recruited from abroad are helping to reverse the brain drain. Now our tri-council funding agencies have the ongoing responsibility to provide the operating grants to enable our researchers to fully capitalize on the outstanding facilities Canadians have provided to enable research across the spectrum of health care issues.
We're now in the interesting position where from a research perspective our place in the competitive global economy has improved, yet to both sustain this competitive position and improve upon it, we need to address the disparity between the facilities and researchers and the funds essential to their daily operations.
Canadians do not spend up to a decade investing in research, then flatline the operational funding base and expect to take full advantage of the opportunities created. If we are to address the number one concern of Canadians—an improved and sustainable health care system—AFMC along with other major health research partners have identified the need for increased funding to all tri-council agencies, with an emphasis on funding for CIHR as the number one issue for success in maintaining our competitive edge.
Today we are recommending that the federal government commit to a substantial increase in funding to CIHR to maximize and build on our gains to date and to allow Canada to become even more competitive in our global environment.
The second area we wish to address is that of health human resources. Data is mounting that we are short of nurses, physicians, and other health care workers. Yes, we can make system changes, such as working inter-professionally, extending hours of access to MRIs, changing scopes of practice, modifying payment practices, and introducing new models of practice—and so on. However, these reforms still require health care workers, and we do not have enough.
I'm sure you all know the statistics regarding physicians: we rank 21st among OECD countries; the average physician is about 49 years of age; there has been a 20% increase in the proportion of physicians in their fifties. Surveys show millions of Canadians are without a family doctor. The problem is not only with the number of health care providers, such as physicians. The problem starts with the lack of a coordinated national mechanism to understand the type and numbers of providers we need, in the face of all the system changes I have just referenced.
For years now, organizations have recommended a pan-Canadian planning process for HHR, with adequate funding. Recent sector studies and the Canadian Medical Forum have supported this.
If we really want to make system changes in how and where we deliver care, we need to understand far better the role and function of all health care providers and create a flexible, inter-professional workforce. It requires data collection, analysis, research, comparative study, forecasting, and recommendations. It would be a modest investment that could launch this essential planning tool for Canada, and we ask you to invest in it.
Thank you.