One Good Thing Leads to Another
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) created the Canadian Health Professionals Secretariat (CHPS) to bring together unions representing health professionals across the country to take collective action and to speak with one common voice on key public policy issues.
More Health Professionals
A principal cause of long wait times in our public health care system is plain enough: a shortage of health professionals. Our demand for health care is rising. But our health professional workforce is static or shrinking. We need to recruit, train and retain more health professionals.
No Health Without Mental Health
A 14-page brief to the Mental Health Commission of Canada recommending broad change in four key areas: the public health care system, health human resources, community-based social services, and the criminal justice system.
Dignity Denied: Long-Term Care and Canada's Elderly
For tens of thousands of Canada's seniors the universality of our health care system ends at the doors of nursing home facilities. In addition, while some of these facilities provide excellent care, this seems to be the exception. As a result of government neglect and corporate profit-taking, the needs of many seniors in nursing homes have been swept under the carpet, abandoned and ignored by commissions, politicians and policy-makers. This report details the ongoing crisis in nursing home care and it proposes a series of bold and sweeping reforms to ensure our elderly get the care they need and deserve.
Primary care reform and expansion
Our health care needs are varied and a multi-faceted approach is best. The current system is organized as a series of individual service outlets operating independently of one another. We need to break down the silos, take these individual pieces of the system and organize them together.
Accurate information and evidence to make better decisions
When it comes to our health we need all the professionals in the field to have the most complete and accurate information available to them. Electronic health records would improve care, save lives, reduce hospital wait times and in the long run save money too.
A National Mental Health Strategy
Canada's mental health system must be brought into the mainstream of Medicare to provide better care for millions of Canadians and to help shorten the waiting time for care.
Better Nursing Home Care for the Elderly
Long-Term Care must be integrated into the Canada Health Act to ensure it is a medically necessary service available to every citizen, regardless of income. This is an essential step in the evolution of Canada’s public Medicare system.
Create a National Pharmacare Program
A national, publicly funded prescription drug program (pharmacare) would go a long way towards reducing drug costs, improving accessibility to medications, and strengthening the quality of our overall health care system.
Create a National Home Care Program
Expanded home care services can help ease the wait time problem for people needing an acute hospital bed. And some people just prefer to be treated in their homes rather than a hospital. Our Medicare must be expanded to cover all home care treatments and services.
Private Care is No Cure
Wait times are the biggest political and policy issue facing our health cre system. The opponents of public health care have used the legitimate public concern about delays in the system to peddle ill-advised policies such as for-profit delivery and private insurance. But the evidence demonstrates that for-profit care will not reduce wait times, will drive up costs, and provide inferior levels of care.
Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist
Adequate planning for pandemic influenza is critical to reduce the health and safety risk for people and to ensure the continuity of health care servies to the public. This checklist is intended to healp health professionals assess and improve current pandemic planning in their workplace.
Canadian Pandemic Planning
An influenza pandemic is inevitable. Will we be ready to handle it when it comes? Yes, is the answer in a NUPGEbackground paper on pandemic planning. But, the paper also argues that Canada could and should be doing a lot more to prepare. The paper sets out what we really need to know about the threats a pandemic presents and what Canada is doing to prepare for one. It also recommends actions that workers and their unions should take to make us all as prepared as possible.
The Relationship Between Health Professional Unions and Health Professional Licensing Bodies in Canada
Disponible en français : Les rapports entre les syndicats des professionnelles et professionnels de la santé et les organismes de réglementation professionnelle dans le domaine de la santé au Canada
This report provides an overview of the traditional and current relationship between unions representing health professionals and the licensing bodies which regulate health professions.
Market Adjustments and Incentive Payments Survey Results
Disponible en français : Enquête sur les rajustements du marché et les primes de rendement -- Résultats de l’enquête
In response to the need for the appropriate supply and distribution of health professionals, many employers are taking steps to bolster recruitment and rentention efforts. One tool that is increasingly being used by employers is a market adjustment. This report is a survey and analysis of market adjustments in place across the country.
Taking Care of Business
Canada's Medicare is truly the triumph of values and economics. This leaflet explains why our Medicare makes it cheaper to run a business in Canada. Read this leaflet and discover the competitive advantages that our Medicare provides to companies operating in Canada.
3 Big Fat Lies About Canada's Medicare
This pamphlet exposes several myths that have been promoted by those campaigning for a private health care system.
