Health care should include patient charter, complaint mechanism: CMA report card

Aug. 22, 2011

If Canadian patients have their way, accountability will become the watchword for a health care system that will focus on them and their needs.

That’s the main message delivered in the CMA’s 2011 11th Annual National Report Card on Health Care, which was released today as the association began its 144th annual meeting in St. John’s.

“We’ve been speaking for years about the need to develop a patient-centred, accountable health care system for Canadians, so it is gratifying to see those same Canadians delivering that message in this year’s report card,” said CMA President Jeff Turnbull.The results are based on telephone and online surveys of 2,051 adults conducted in July, and have a margin of error of ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The Ipsos Reid survey found that:

• Almost nine in 10 respondents (87%) agreed that establishment of a “patient health charter” should be a required part of the 2014 health care funding agreement between federal, provincial and territorial governments.
• Eighty-seven percent of respondents said the new patient charter should contain a “complaint mechanism” to improve accountability, and 86% said an independent ombudsman should be created by the charter to allow “citizens to complain about poor health service.”
• Canadians are evenly split on the future of the Health Accord, which is up for renegotiation in 2014. Fifty-two percent of respondents prefer an agreement in which all governments (federal, provincial and territorial) reach a single national agreement, while 47% favour individual agreements between the federal government and the province/territories because this would account for “special needs” within each jurisdiction.

This year’s survey also raised the issue of redress for patients if the health care system “included a guarantee of service with specific timelines and assurances of quality, and these were not met.” Almost four of five respondents (78%) would prefer a system in which complaints were taken to an independent ombudsman instead of to the courts.

As well, 88% of Canadians think a health care charter should allow citizens who are not receiving adequate care “due to poor quality or unreasonable wait times” to receive their care in another jurisdiction.

The 2011 results also made clear that “disease has no boundaries.” Respondents issued a strong call for greater federal/provincial/territorial cooperation when it comes to health care. Ninety-three percent agreed – including 77% who agreed strongly – that different levels of government should meet annually to discuss the state of health care and “should not wait 10 years between meetings.”

Overall, the health care system received an A or B grade from 70% of respondents (34% A, 36% B, 19% C and 7% F), compared with 75% in 2010 and 74% in 2009.

Fifty-four percent of respondents graded access to family doctors at B or higher, though this dropped to 46% for access to specialists. The services receiving the lowest combined A and B grades were “access to home health care services” (37%) and “mental health care services in your community” (35%).

This was the CMA’s 11th national report card, and Turnbull said that the results, when considered collectively, provide a “valuable snapshot” of the evolution of health care issues in Canada.

“I think the latest report card makes it clear where this evolution is heading,” he said, “and that is toward a patient-centred system that supports greater access to home-based care.”

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