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A SUSTAINABLE BC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Principle:

WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO MAKE CHANGES IN OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM TO ENSURE THAT A STRONG, PUBLIC SYSTEM WILL BE THERE FOR OUR KIDS.

Policy:

A strong public health care system must be maintained for British Columbians

No family in British Columbia appreciates our public health care system more than mine. My mom was a nurse for 30 years, over 20 of them at St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, and my dad suffered for years with a degenerative disease that eventually took his life. My brother Greg was critically injured and received outstanding care at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops and the burn unit at VGH. Our family’s experience reinforced just how valuable our public health care system is. Simply put, without a public and accessible health care system to look after our family – we could not have financially managed.

Plan: We must not approach the health care challenge from a right wing or left wing perspective – that is too simplistic. Instead, we must take an approach that involves listening, learning, and leading. As Health Minister, I listened to the public and to health care experts. I learned about the issues by using facts and evidence. And I’ve led by acting on those facts and challenging the status quo to do better with our tax dollars. I will continue to do so to preserve and improve a great public health care system for our children.

Policy:

A sustainable health care system starts with prevention

Plan: Health promotion and disease prevention are vitally important to ensure families stay healthy and out of hospitals. All British Columbians have a responsibility to do their bit, and I will ensure government leads in support of good, healthy choices.

Policy:

We must be creative and innovative to ensure our public health care system is sustainable

As Minister of Health, I realize that money alone is not the answer to making sure we have a great health care system that’s there when we need it. We’re already spending almost 50 per cent of our provincial budget on health care.

Plan: As pressures on the system continue to increase, we need to ensure that the system is sustainable for the benefit of future generations. I believe the key is to be more creative and more innovative on how we get as much patient care as possible out of those billions of dollars. To preserve an outstanding public health care system we must never be afraid to innovate and ensure that every dollar we put into health care maximizes the benefits and measures the outcomes of that system.

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