Human Resources committee  There's no issue on retention. It's almost the ghetto of where we go in health care, which is kind of sad, because as you heard from many of the speakers, seniors and the aging population are a richness in our country. We need to mix the professional help that is needed from doct

Human Resources committee  Yes. We had Dr. Pat Armstrong from York University do a paper for the council of the federation two years ago. It was all about building national standards for seniors care and having it be legislated. Let's be clear. The federal government will never deliver the care, but the f

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Robillard. The reassessment of clients and their families is probably the greatest need observed by the country's nurses. All of the seniors are medically assessed and sent home, and then they are forgotten for weeks, months, or longer. That is when accidents happ

Human Resources committee  There are two prongs here. If we look at pharmacare, it's, one, having a formulary that's based on the evidence. I'm scared every day to hear reports—and that's not a CNFU report, that's the Beers report—that 40% of the prescription drugs prescribed to seniors are inappropriate f

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair and committee members, thank you for inviting the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions to present to this committee. On behalf of close to 200,000 nurses who I represent, I'm very pleased to be here. As mentioned, my name is Linda Silas. I'm president of the federation

Health committee  The CIHI report of two years ago said that we were paying more for prescription drugs than for doctors. Now, the cost of physicians is a little bit more, but we're still talking about 30% and 32%. No, we wouldn't be paying more for pharmaceuticals than for doctors, because we w

Health committee  As Ms. Yale said, the patients have to be at the centre, but they have to be given the right choice. It would still be based on what your physician or nurse practitioner prescribes and advises you to take. It would be based on the formulary if you want it to be universally access

Health committee  No. We work with them. It's like any other national agreement. There's a little astérisque excluding Quebec. I did say at a conference where Quebec was very well represented that we believe, because the numbers are clear, that Quebec would have to be included. They do not have a

Health committee  Let's look at the Canada Health Act. We have one Canada Health Act for the 13 provinces and territories and the federal government, so all are there. What the provinces and territories have is the delivery of care. That is very specific. There's not one federal health minister th

Health committee  I started this job 13 years ago, and I have to say that negotiators then weren't as much in favour of a national formulary as they are today. With health and dental, if I look at all benefits, it's about 6% of payroll. When we look at it as negotiators, that 6% that goes toward

Health committee  They need help. There's not one province, one territory, that doesn't need help in health care. They're as frustrated as we are when they see that they have to handle this on their own. When 40% of your provincial budget is health care and more than 30% of that health care budget

Health committee  The nurses union hasn't done any that. We have focused on the waste. However, the CMAJ did research just two years ago on the cost, and that's where it was between $1 billion and $4 billion. There will be more, and we'll focus there. To keep your nurses happy, I'll make sure th

Health committee  Yes, and that is what the majority of Health ministers would like to see happen. Currently, neither the medical evidence nor the evidence related to costs is preeminent. Political lobbying seems to have precedence, and I acknowledge that reality. I also do lobbying, but in favour

Health committee  Thank you for the question. When we talk about conclusive evidence, we are talking about all of the evidence. It is not just a matter of the medical impact the medicines can have, but also their cost. As politicians, when recommendations are submitted to you, as is being done t

Health committee  I think you heard from Professor Perry that it has to be based on the evidence, the evidence, the evidence. It is clear that in our country, because of its size and population, that we need one system to work in collaboration with the federal government, the provinces, and the te