As Canada鈥檚 population ages at a rapid rate, suggests the country can do more to improve access to seniors鈥� care and overall equity in the health system.
Released Thursday, the study compares the performance of seniors鈥� care in Canada and its provinces to that of other wealthy nations using data from the Commonwealth Fund, a U.S.-based foundation dedicated to improving health-care systems, and identifies areas for improvement.
The focused on a random sample of seniors aged 65 and older in 11 developed countries and asked about their experiences, interactions and perceptions of the health-care system and health providers.
Among the countries surveyed, Canada ranked eighth in seniors鈥� care 鈥� ahead only of France, the U.K. and Sweden.
AREAS OF STRENGTH, WEAKNESS
Drawing from the survey鈥檚 data, the C.D. Howe Institute study applies a magnifying lens to seniors鈥� care in Canada鈥檚 provinces, because, as study co-author Rosalie Wyonch explained in an interview with CTVNews.ca, 鈥渨e're really 13 health-care systems, not one.鈥�
The study found that most provinces exceed the international average in care process, which includes factors such as co-ordination across health providers and patient engagement, but fall below average on equity and access to care, which includes factors such as wait times.
It also notes that access to medical care is an obstacle for low-income seniors, noting in the study that 15 per cent of seniors in Canada are not visiting a dentist and eight percent are not receiving the home care they need because they can鈥檛 afford it.
Four provinces 鈥� P.E.I., Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta 鈥� were found to score above the international average overall, while some provinces 鈥� particularly Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec 鈥� scored below most international comparators.
Among their policy recommendations, Wyonch and her co-author Tingting Zhang suggest improving overall access to care for seniors, timeliness of care and reducing cost barriers to prescriptions, dentistry and home care services across the country.
鈥淧art of the analysis is how can we push ourselves to be the best of the best?鈥� said Wyonch, who is also a senior policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute and leads its Health Policy Council and Research Initiative.
鈥淎nd so we would do better by reducing wait times and ensuring particularly those that are on the lower end of the income distribution can access care.鈥�
INTERNATIONAL EXAMPLES
The study also analyzed countries like Germany and the Netherlands that rank higher than Canada in seniors鈥� care in order to draw inspiration for domestic solutions.
Wyonch notes the Netherlands stands out as being 鈥渟ignificantly better鈥� for access to care after regular business hours than the other countries and Canadian provinces.
This, she said, is owing to the fact that physicians in the Dutch country are required to put in at least 50 hours of after-hours care each year to maintain their licences.
Germany, on the other hand, reported the highest health status among seniors.
鈥淏ecause they're actually better at maintaining the health of their population and doing better prevention, so they are healthier to begin with. So they require less care and that helps with that access and wait times issue,鈥� Wyonch explained.
CANADA SHOULD NOT BE 鈥楥OMPLACENT鈥�: STUDY AUTHOR
The federal government projects that the .
Wyonch said this will likely put extra pressure on Canada鈥檚 health-care system, further underlying the need for the country to prioritize seniors鈥� care.
鈥淭he need for care is only going to increase over the coming, at least over the next couple of years, before the demographic curve might shift back the other way,鈥� she said.
鈥淏ut during that time, we need to prepare now to be able to deliver that care or when people need it in the future because it takes years to adapt systems, build buildings, train doctors 鈥� most things.鈥�
The COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed cracks in the country鈥檚 health-care system, including seniors鈥� care, and claimed the lives of thousands of seniors, is another reason to be proactive rather than 鈥渃omplacent,鈥� Wyonch said.
鈥淒ecades of warnings culminated in the disaster that was the pandemic in institutional care. And so we had lots of prior knowledge and, in my view, we haven't done enough yet to prevent something similar from happening,鈥� she said.
鈥淢ost actions in the health-care system won't necessarily see results until a few years into the future. And so if we want to address these things before we have a crisis, we should act sooner rather than later.鈥�
