Oak Bay-Gordon Head's candidates' promises on Healthcare

Acute and preventive care

BC Greens

Establish a task force to develop a plan to transition the balance of resources between acute care and preventive care.

The task force will review the funding and range of services covered by the health care system to ensure the mix of services better meets the treatment and prevention needs of the population. The task force will deliver its recommendations to the government by May 2022.

— From The BC Greens' Plan for a More Equitable and Sustainable BC.

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We don't have any BC Liberals policies on Acute and preventive care.

We don't have any BC NDP policies on Acute and preventive care.

COVID-19 Vaccine

We don't have any BC Greens policies on COVID-19 Vaccine.

We don't have any BC Liberals policies on COVID-19 Vaccine.

BC NDP

When they are approved and available, anyone who wants the vaccine will receive it for free.

Cancer

We don't have any BC Greens policies on Cancer.

We don't have any BC Liberals policies on Cancer.

BC NDP

Commit that all cancer care patients get information and care when they need it, including in rural communities.
Provide more individualized care.
Invest in new equipment, systems, and procedures.
Expand enhanced research and diagnostic capabilities.

An anywhere/anytime commitment so that all cancer care patients get information and care when they need it, including in rural communities.

Providing more individualized care for cancer patients, including dedicated teams providing a full continuum of care.

improving that continuum of care by investing in new equipment, systems and procedures that deliver leading-edge prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment services.

Expanding and funding enhanced research and diagnostic capabilities, allowing health professionals to improve the precision of disease risk prediction, prevention, diagnostics and treatment.

— From Working for You.

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Care homes & assisted living

BC Greens

Shift sector away from for-profit private companies, to a mix of public, not-for-profit, community-based services, & co-ops.
Require annual inspections, financial statements, & audited expense reports.
Recognize caregivers as a healthcare profession with the salary they deserve.

Support pilot projects that bring young people and seniors together and integrate seniors more deeply into communities;

Give the office of the Seniors Advocate more independence and an expanded mandate.

— From The BC Greens' Plan for a More Equitable and Sustainable BC.

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BC Liberals

Invest an additional $1 billion over 5 years in new long-term care facilities.
Work towards private rooms for all seniors in long-term care who want them.
Work with care home operators to address chronic worker shortages.

BC NDP

Hire 7,000 new workers for long-term care and assisted living.
Restore standards for wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Build more public care homes.
Require transparency from private operators.
Launch a Silver Alert system to help locate missing seniors.

...we're investing $44 million to hire and train 7,000 new health care workers for long-term care homes and assisted living facilities. This Health Career Access Program will provide new opportunities for workers who lost their jobs in other sectors due to COVID-19.

— From Working for You.

We will develop a staffing retention strategy that provides workers in long-term care and assisted living with "levelled up wages" even after the pandemic ends, and restore provincial standards for wages, benefits, and working conditions that were cut by the BC Liberals.

— From Working for You.

We're working with non-profits to build public care homes that keep seniors safer, healthier, and more comfortable.

— From Working for You.

... new requirements that will make sure private operators are more transparent and accountable for the public funding they get.

— From _Working for You_.

Working with community groups and the BC Seniors Advocate, we will develop a made-in-BC Silver Alert system to help assist first responders locate missing seniors, particularly those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

— From Working for You.

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Care homes and COVID-19

We don't have any BC Greens policies on Care homes and COVID-19.

BC Liberals

Launch an independent review of the response to COVID-19 in long-term care and assisted living homes.
Implement measures to allow family to safely visit seniors in long-term care, assisted, and independent living during COVID-19.

We don't have any BC NDP policies on Care homes and COVID-19.

Contraception

BC Greens

Make contraceptive products free for those under 25 and remove PST on all contraceptive products.

We don't have any BC Liberals policies on Contraception.

BC NDP

Make contraception free for all.

Health infrastructure

We don't have any BC Greens policies on Health infrastructure.

BC Liberals

Upgrade and expand emergency rooms, mental health beds, and primary care clinics.
Complete new Surrey Hospital, new acute care tower for Richmond Hospital, Mills Memorial Hospital, and the Burnaby Hospital Redevelopment.

We don't have any BC NDP policies on Health infrastructure.

Healthcare staffing

BC Greens

Consult with physicians and other stakeholders to improve efficiency, reduce administration, and incentivise becoming a General Practitioner.
Work with the College of Physicians and Surgeons to create a pathway for qualified foreign-trained physicians to practice in BC.

BC Liberals

Increase training spaces for doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.
Expand opportunities for international graduates in health professions.
Work to attract health professionals to under-serviced areas.
Ensure all workers experience a violence-free workplace.

BC NDP

Launch a second medical school to expand health care workforce.
Create a comprehensive health care human resources strategy including credential recognition.

Launching BC's second medical school to expand our health care workforce: This means more doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and other health professionals trained, graduating and working right here in BC.

A comprehensive health care human resources strategy including credential recognition: From doctors and nurses to long-term care aides, we will make sure BC is well-prepared to deal with future demand and pressures. In addition to expanding training in all fields of healthcare, we'll be improving the provinces credential recognition process and licensing so that people trained in other countries can provide their skills and knowledge here in BC.

— From Working for You.

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Homecare

We don't have any BC Greens policies on Homecare.

BC Liberals

Implement a tax credit for seniors of up to $7,000/year for up to $20,0000 of homecare, housekeeping, and home repairs.
Expand programmes to assist seniors and people with disabilities with home renos.
Reinstate the Home Adaptions for Independence grant programme.

BC NDP

Invest in a new Hospital at Home programme.
Expand publicly funded home care to provide better care and help with daily living.

Invest in a new Hospital at Home programme so patients can get safe care while in the comfort of their homes, and taking pressure off hospitals. It will act as a blueprint for expanding e-health and tele-health services more broadly, so people can get virtual visits from doctors and nurses at home.

— From Working for You.

We'll expand publicly funded home care to provide better care and help with daily living - bathing, dressing, meal preparation and more - so that people can stay in their own homes for as long as is safely possible. It will also improve continuity of care with seniors receiving visits from a more consistent group of care aides.

— From Working for You.

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Advance cultural competency training for existing healthcare practitioners and support training of new Indigenous doctors while prioritizing opportunities to expand public healthcare services within communities, as lead by Indigenous leadership.

BC Liberals

Work to eliminate systemic racism and unconscious bias across the healthcare system, and to ensure services equitable and accessible for all.

We don't have any BC NDP policies on Inclusiveness.

Pandemic response

We don't have any BC Greens policies on Pandemic response.

BC Liberals

Establish an emergency Pandemic Response Committee to work with all parties and the Provincial Health Officer to manage the current and future pandemics.

We don't have any BC NDP policies on Pandemic response.

Prescription drugs

BC Greens

Develop a proposal to implement an essential drugs programme beginning in 2022, designed to reduce the costs of prescription drugs and ensure the cost of drugs is not a barrier to health management.

BC Liberals

Implement a provincial prescription drug monitoring programme to prevent addiction with early referrals and specialist care and treatment options.

BC NDP

Fight for a national pharmacare programme.
Make prescription contraception free.

Sexual assault

BC Greens

Establish permanent core funding for the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre.

This funding would be part of a larger strategy that establishes a new funding model for medical and police integrated sexual assault services, ensuring communities across BC can establish clinics that meet their needs.

— From The BC Greens' Plan for a More Equitable and Sustainable BC.

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BC Liberals

Increase number of nurses in BC hospitals trained to conduct medical and forensic exams for sexual assaults.

We don't have any BC NDP policies on Sexual assault.

Vaccinations

We don't have any BC Greens policies on Vaccinations.

BC Liberals

Make the flu vaccine free for all British Columbians.

BC NDP

Invest in 2 million doses of flu vaccines.

Wait-times

We don't have any BC Greens policies on Wait-times.

BC Liberals

Improve Ambulance Service response-times, especially in rural communities.
Increase online booking of medical appointments.
Improve public reporting of wait-times.
Accelerate adoption of virtual medical consultations.
Expand online prescription-renewals, optional home delivery.

BC NDP

Optimize surgical and diagnostic space.
Add four more MRI machines in the next year.
Provide the hospital needed staff to perform more surgeries and other procedures.

Maximizing the capacity of existing surgical and diagnostic space: We're developing new strategies to optimize surgical and diagnostic space and teams, so BC can keep pace with the demand for new surgeries and increase the number of MRIs annually - reducing people's wait for care and relief.

Adding four more MRI machines in the next year: We're putting more MRIs in areas of highest remaining demand - Ridge Meadows Hospital (Maple Ridge), Langley Memorial, Vancouver General and St Paul's, with more to come.

Providing the hospital staff needed to perform more surgeries and other procedures: Our training, recruitment, certification, and retention strategies will help make sure BC has the skilled health workforce to deliver care faster.

— From Working for You.

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