Announce Patient Wait Times Guarantee

Comments

New Brunswick Joins with Canada's New Government to Announce Patient Wait Times Guarantee

FREDERICTON - The Honourable Tony Clement, Federal Minister of Health, and the Honourable Michael Murphy, New Brunswick Health Minister today announced that New Brunswick has agreed to establish a Patient Wait Times Guarantee in radiation therapy by 2010, to be supported by $21.3 million in federal Budget 2007 funding.  New Brunswick will also be eligible to benefit from the $400 million in new funding for Canada Health Infoway, and the $30 million for pilot projects as announced in Budget 2007.

"We are pleased that New Brunswick has agreed to work with the federal government to establish a Patient Wait Time Guarantee," said Minister Clement.  "For the first time, New Brunswickers will be guaranteed timely health care access in the area of radiation therapy.  We congratulate New Brunswick for committing to this critical step forward in patient care."

The Government of New Brunswick is establishing a wait times guarantee for radiation therapy within eight weeks with access to alternate care options as required. This guarantee will be implemented within the next three years.
 
"Enhancing timely access to health care services is a top priority for our government,'' said Minister Murphy.  "A wait time guarantee for radiation therapy is important in itself and will lead to improvements in health electronic information systems and wait time management practices and tools that can be used to reduce wait times for other treatments as well.''

The establishment of the guarantee will be informed by a pilot project, to develop and implement methods to support the radiation wait time guarantee.

This announcement marks another step forward by Canada's New Government as it continues to work towards ensuring that all Canadians receive essential medical treatment within clinically acceptable wait times.

Canada's New Government intends to provide up to $612 million in a Patient Wait Times Guarantee Trust, $400 million for health information technology through Infoway, an organization which is making significant progress in working with provinces and territories to implement electronic health records.  In addition to these investments, $30 million over three years will go to provinces and territories for pilot projects related to establishing guarantees.

"New Brunswick is to be commended on its work to reduce wait times and on its commitment to improving the health of all New Brunswickers," said Minister Greg Thompson, Regional Minister for New Brunswick.  "Today's announcement means that New Brunswick will be joining the federal government and the other provinces and territories to advance the state of health care across the country."

Today's announcement complements a number of previously launched pilot projects toward achieving timely access to better care.  These include three which are designed to test guarantees for prenatal and diabetes care in selected First Nations communities, while a fourth is a national paediatric pilot project to address wait times for children in need of surgery.