There are a couple of solutions we need to look at, three that I'll put on the table now, and there may be some other information I can send forward.
One is that we do need to look at maximizing scopes of all health professions. That's been touched on here but not in that language, so we need to make sure all health professionals are doing what they should be doing within their scopes and the full use of that scope. This was touched on a little bit by our chiropractic colleagues. It will lessen the load, whether it's nurses or physicians.
Another point would be advanced practice, which is a growing trend in a number of health professions over the last couple of years. It's quite new. The nurse practitioner is a version of that. There are many health professionals who are able to take on additional duties that would then allow others—to use physicians as the example—to focus on their specialty areas and not have to do the things that others can do.
The third item I'd bring forward is primary health care. The federal government invested a great deal of money, $780 million, into establishing a new way of delivering primary health care through an inter-professional modality. We're dropping that a little bit. The funding ended. There was an expectation that it would simply continue. I think it needs more investment, so I would urge this committee to take a look at that as well.