Can Angus MacIsaac heal the NS health system quickly enough?

A high percentage of senior citizens raise the minority government's stakes

BY HUGH COULTHART

Nova Scotia's Minister of Health Angus MacIsaac is in the hot seat. His predecessor, Jane Purves, lost the portfolio, along with her seat in the legislature, in the provincial election last August. Health care --particularly an opposition NDP promise to reduce the cost to seniors of nursing-home care --was among the most contentious issues. When the votes were counted the Progressive Conservative (PC) government of Dr John Hamm, a general practitioner, had lost its majority. The PCs currently hold 25 seats in the 52-seat house.

Mr MacIsaac was born in the UK and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1943. He's a graduate of Nova Scotia Teachers College and St. Francis Xavier University. He has taught high school in Alberta and in his home province and chaired the Strait of Canso Industrial Development Authority. He owns a farm that produces Christmas trees, blueberries and maple syrup. He was first elected in 1969 at age 25 and was reelected in 1970 but had been out of the legislature for more than 20 years until the 1999 election. In Dr Hamm's first government, he served as Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs and Minister of Education.

Now as health minister, Mr MacIsaac is pivotal to the fortunes of the minority government. The premier has had 30 years experience on the front lines of Nova Scotia's healthcare delivery system. The government's commitment to improving the system was reaffirmed in the throne speech last September. Yet, after four years in power, Dr Hamm's medical colleagues in the province remain frustrated. Dr Mary Doyle, president of the Medical Society of Nova Scotia, identifies persistent delays in getting services for patients as the chief frustration faced by GPs and specialists alike. She points to human resource shortages as the culprit.

Mr MacIsaac makes it clear why he was appointed to the critical portfolio. A veteran of public service and community leadership, he's an articulate, forceful, even challenging champion of the PC government's healthcare policies and initiatives.

The groundwork for human resources planning is being laid, he says and points to the personnel database -- which lists healthcare professionals by location, function, experience and age -- that is underway in cooperation with all four Atlantic provinces. The medical schools at Memorial University in St John's and at Dalhousie continue to be the principle source of doctors and nurses for the region.

The minister is confident that progress is being made. He cites the ongoing discussion with Dalhousie to increase their annual intake of medical students, and with community colleges to increase their output of licensed practical nurses and laboratory technicians as another government initiative.

National Health Councils?
His view of interprovincial cooperation beyond the Altlantic region is more closely tied to the interests of Nova Scotia. He regards the National Health Council, for example, as "an opportunity to make the case for changing the federal funding formula." The government position on current funding, based on gross population totals only, is that Nova Scotia is at a disadvantage, with per capita healthcare requirements that are greater than other provinces.

"Nova Scotians have a homing instinct," according to Mr MacIsaac, "Those who spend their working lives outside the province come home to retire." He's right, of course. The province does have a significantly higher proportion of seniors than other provinces.

He also would like to see other changes closer to home and urges Nova Scotians "to take an interest in their health, watch their diets and keep their bodies active to ensure that they enjoy the benefits of a healthy life as long as possible."

What minister of health would not concur? On the other hand, it's unlikely that the centrist minority government will take provocative positions on health care. Instead it will borrow the most popular platforms from the opposition parties, right or left. Mr MacIsaac has already hinted he will meet the NDP demand to reduce healthcare costs to seniors living in nursing homes.