Our governments like to paint a rosy picture of our Canadian health systems. But it’s everybody else that’s ringing the alarm bells.
Government announcements paint a picture of a robust health system; a new hospital here, more nursing home beds there, a one-time community grant dropped in over there. Bounce-back comes in the form of lived experience: stunning staff shortages, rippling rural closures, inadequate birthing access, inexplicable surgery delays, etc, etc. It’s the shiny government announcements versus the scary community realities that are creating discord. Dissonance you ask? Incoherence I reply!
Solutions anyone? On the surface some may think it’s just a matter of throwing more money at healthcare. Others urge private business to get in there to straighten things out, that’s what the lobbyists want. But those answers are a little naïve, I think. As a leading university dean of law said this past year, “There is not one shred of evidence that private business can do it better.” So here is what I ask. Isn’t it time for the provincial politicians to say their mea culpas, grow a backbone, and admit that the system they’ve inherited was designed for a bygone era?
Leaders are appointed to lead. Politicians are elected to lead the way towards a better future for all citizens based on evidence that is staring them in the face – that a system designed for the 20th century cannot carry us through the 21st century. And it’s not just for seniors that we’re red-flagging this. Citizens of all ages are pleading for more and better community homecare.
- Research finds that more than 80% of older adults wish to age at home, not in an institution (National Institute on Aging in Canada 2024 Survey).
- Technology innovations in wearables and insertables are already supporting the everyday lives of countless Canadians, young and old. Much more is possible.
- Healthcare experts are now rightfully seeing homecare as part of primary care.
- Home modifications and conversions are restoring homes to their caregiver status.
- The Ontario Caregiver Organization estimates that an incredible 90% of all healthcare is provided in the home and community (November 2025). The home is a health centre.
If all of these findings are a Canadian reality, why are we not acting on the evidence that is staring us in the face? Can innovation not penetrate the barriers encircling the health system’s rigid “ecosystem”. At a time when artificial intelligence holds so much promise for homecare, when nanodiagnostics can relieve hospital pressures, when drone delivery and robotic tools shrink space and time, then I ask; Are our health taxes funding these and other homecare discoveries into a coherent health system for all?
“Critical” is not too strong a word for our health system’s condition. The Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) states that the magnitude of healthcare spending in our country will reach $400B in 2025. That figure equals 12.5% of Canada’s entire Gross Domestic Product, larger than any other economic sector in Canada. If we are not designing healthcare for the new world reality, the result for our country could be catastrophic. Do we get it? Do we understand that homecare can help save Medicare and, therefore, save our country?