Helping the health care system survive the pandemic and beyond – we need your support

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Helping the health care system survive the pandemic and beyond – we need your support

July 8, 2020 | Author: Royal College Staff

2 MIN READ

Our health care system’s frontline health care professionals, administrators and decision-makers have had to respond with urgency, ingenuity and collaboration in these unprecedented times. For that, we thank you and applaud you.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects will be long-lasting and we know that more has to be done to support you. We have heard from many of you that the health care system is not funded and resourced properly to support the influx of patients as medical appointments and elective surgeries resume and clinics re-open across Canada.

With this in mind, the Royal College is advocating to the federal government to make new, additional investments in the health care system to prevent risk to the health and well-being of patients and those who care for them.

In our briefs to the standing committees of Finance (download full brief) and Health (download full brief), we’ve called for:

a special emergency fund for provincial and territorial health systems to access so that Fellows and other health care providers have the necessary resources – human, space and equipment – to manage the backlog of patients since care was put on hold;
high-speed internet across Canada because is a fundamental infrastructural barrier in making virtual care a sustainable model of care for you;
a new multi-pronged funding strategy to safeguard the health of health care professionals, including paid leave for Fellows and others who don’t have access to such benefits so those who need time to recover from the burden and stress of COVID-19 can do so without financial penalty.

Please join in our efforts to bring these issues to the attention of the federal government and elected officials. We encourage you to send a letter to your local MP. To make it easier, we have prepared a letter template that you can customize, or send as-is. Find out who your MP is, and how to contact them.

The Royal College will continue to advocate with you and for you, in your service to patients. We will also be reaching out to provincial governments in the coming weeks. Please tell us what your priorities are so that we can continue to provide you the necessary support.

If you have any additional thoughts on these issues and others that you believe need advocacy to decision-makers, please contact healthpolicy@royalcollege.ca.