In provincial elections across
the country, you can always count on healthcare to crop
up as a hot button issue. Not so in Manitoba's May 22
trip to the polls. The election resulted in a third-straight
NDP majority; doctor shortages, MRIS and "hallway medicine"
were barely mentioned. Many of the province's physicians
are worried about what they see as political complacency
on the issue.
"Healthcare was not a major issue
in this election," says Dr Darcy Johnson, president
of the Manitoba Medical Association. "The refrain of
'hallway medicine' didn't seem to echo to the same degree
even though in many ways the problem still exists,"
he says. "I don't know that it surprises us — certainly
one of the concerns out there is that people have become
complacent with waiting lists."
Liberal leader Dr Jon Gerrard,
a former pediatric oncologist, says his party decided
to run four doctors as candidates — the greatest
involvement by physicians in Manitoba's political process
in nearly 100 years, he says — to put healthcare
front and centre. "There's a considerable receptivity
and recognition that we need more physicians in politics
to get better decision-making at the political level,"
he says. "Family physicians are being marginalized and
put out of the loop in Manitoba."
Healthcare's lower profile in this
campaign compared to past elections — not to mention
the number of complaints the CBC received for pre-empting
the Stanley Cup playoffs to cover the election —
seems to be part of a general lack of interest in the
political process among Manitobans. Yet the Conference
Board of Canada, an independent nonprofit research group,
last year ranked Manitoba's health system the worst
of all the provinces.
ELECTION
RESULTS
The election itself changed very little in Manitoba's
political landscape. Gary Doer's New Democrats inched
ahead to a record-tying 36 seat majority while Hugh
McFadyen's Progressive Conservatives dropped from 20
seats to 19. Dr Gerrard's physician-heavy lineup of
Liberal candidates stayed pat at a paltry two seats.
The biggest healthcare issue was
the dwindling number of emerg docs in Winnipeg hospitals
— especially at Grace Hospital in the city's west
end. At the end of June, the hospital will be left with
the equivalent of just three full-time ER physicians
— well short of the recommended full complement
of nine. The hospital's temporary ER coverage deal with
the downtown St Boniface Hospital is set to expire at
the same time. Mr McFadyen held a "Save the Grace" rally
just two days before the vote and PC health critic Myrna
Driedger accused the NDP of mismanagement. "The ER physician
problem is huge," she says. "It became a crisis and
probably by the end of June it will become a catastrophe."
"The NDP got into power in 1999
on the biggest promise in Manitoba history, to end hallway
medicine," says Ms Driedger. "Here we are eight years
later and ER hallway medicine is worse than ever, and
it's having a dramatic effect on staffing levels."
But Mr Doer dealt with that neatly
by promising to open a health access clinic in western
Winnipeg to try to reduce demand on the hospital, and
announced plans for several new incentive programs for
the recruitment and retention of doctors. In addition,
the NDP pledged to hire five clinical assistants to
work in the Grace ER. And, in early May, the government
reopened the section of its contract with the Manitoba
Medical Association that deals with ER physician pay
and retention incentives.
BIG
PROMISE$
During the campaign, the NDP also proposed to build
Canada's first dedicated mental health ER in Winnipeg
as well as a new women's hospital.
Ms Driedger says the NDP's big
plan's big on dollars and short on sense. The Conservatives
proposed tax cuts while Mr Doer doled out the cash.
"Administrative costs have skyrocketed under this government,"
says Ms Driedger, but an NDP spokesperson cites Canadian
Institute for Health Information data that shows administrative
health spending in Manitoba to be on par with the national
average.
Ms Driedger also used the campaign
to criticize the NDP's lack of progress in promoting
healthcare IT — though the NDP points to its April
creation of Manitoba eHealth, a new $150 million health
IT strategy.
Dr Gerrard's healthcare platform
hinged on a promise to establish an access to care guarantee
after his proposed legislation to that effect failed
to pass last November.
Over the course of the campaign,
talk of reviving the province's hockey team, the Winnipeg
Jets, often got more attention than healthcare. "I think
and I worry that people are becoming so used to healthcare
being in crisis that they run out of energy to keep
fighting the fight," sighs Ms Driedger.
NRM's provincial
election coverage continues on page 22, with a look
at PEI's vote.
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