The Future of Health Care Delivery in Canada - Research Paper Example

Discuss the most significant issue affecting the future of health care delivery in Canada Grade (Feb. 10th, 2014) Discuss the most significant issue affecting the future of health care delivery in Canada Health care delivery in Canada is considerably successful, considering that great strides have been made in the areas of providing care for acute illnesses, such that substantial improvement has been recorded in issues of mortality rate and life expectancy, with the life expectancy increasing by two-and-a –half years currently, while the mortality rate has decreased by 30% from the 1960s statistics (Rachlis, 2004).

Nevertheless, there are two major issues that are affecting the future of health care delivery in Canada. First, the healthcare system in Canada lacks equity and fairness among the population, an issue that needs to be addressed in future. The Canadian health delivery system is structured in such a way that it is a mixed public-private health care delivery system, with the government being responsible for financing the healthcare services, while the private sector is responsible for providing the healthcare services to the patients, with very little funding of such services (Turnbull, 2011).

This system is a major issue that has subsequently created a non-structured health delivery system, considering that Canada is a federal country, with two tiers of government; the federal government and the provincial government, each tier having different responsibilities. Considering that the health care function is devolved as a function of the provincial government, which is responsible for enacting regulations and policies guiding the delivery of health care, the country is made up of different health care systems as defined and established by each provincial government, making the structure very fragmented (Coburn, DArcy & Torrance, 1998).

Consequently, each provincial government delivers health services to the people on its own terms, making the harmonization of the health care delivery system very difficult, which in turn means that it is difficult to coordinate national health programs and as a result ,any health challenges goes unaddressed, since each provincial government has to do its own audit. The effect is that some regions receive better healthcare services than others, which should not be the case, since a harmonized and coordinated healthcare delivery system is more accountable and controllable (Turnbull, 2011).

Therefore, this is a significant issue that needs to be addressed, through a possible overhaul of the system, to place healthcare under the responsibility of the national government, and thus achieve more coordination and harmonization of the health services delivered to the people. This will serve to ensure equity and fairness for all in the future. Secondly, the Canadian healthcare delivery system has major imbalances between acute and chronic treatment (Rachlis, 2004). The healthcare system in Canada was established on the basis of providing world class treatment for major illnesses such as surgeries, while the chronic illnesses have been relegated to a level that is deficient (Rachlis, 2004).

Consequently, there are few deaths resulting from major illnesses because the health care system is well developed for that, but there are major shortcomings in the area of chronic illnesses, which accounts for much of the lives lost in the country. Therefore, there is a great need for the country’s healthcare system to be developed further for chronic treatment capacities, which will ensure that the imbalance existing between the acute and the chronic treatments is effectively addressed in the future.

References Coburn, D., DArcy, C., & Torrance, G. M. (1998). Health and Canadian society: Sociological perspectives. Toronto [u.a.: University of Toronto Press. Rachlis, M.M. (2004).The Future of Canadian Health Care - Michael Rachlis MDPrescription for Excellence: How Innovation is Saving Canadas Health Care System. Ontario: FRCPC. Turnbull, J. (Mar 1, 2011). The future of health care in Canada? We know where to start. Retrieved Tuesday 11, 2014 from http://www.ipolitics.ca/2011/03/01/the-future-of-health-care-in-canadawe-know-where-to-start/