Conference of Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Health

HALIFAX,  September 27, 2012 – Provincial and Territorial health and wellness ministers  are forging ahead on innovation to enhance the health of Canadians.

Provincial  and Territorial Ministers were joined briefly by telephone by Premiers Brad Wall and Robert Ghiz, the Co-Chairs of Health Care  Innovation Working Group, to discuss how to implement the recommendations of  the report, “From Innovation to Action”.

They also discussed the ambitious new agenda  of the Working Group in the areas of Clinical Practice Guidelines,  Appropriateness of Care, Team Based Models, achieving further savings for brand  name and generic drugs and continuous improvements through LEAN management  principles.  

“Our  focus is to improve patient care by collaborating across jurisdictions so that  the best ideas are easier to implement in another province or territory and  that all Canadians are getting the best value for our investments in health  care. We want to share innovation not just talk about it,” said Health and  Wellness Minister David Wilson who chaired the meeting. “I’m impressed with the  progress made and this was very much a working meeting.”

Promotion  of healthy life styles and the prevention of disease, disability and injury are  important aspects of the sustainability of health systems. Ministers discussed  recent progress and opportunities for further collaboration in support of  healthy living, such as tobacco reduction, access to healthy food, nutrition  information and physical activity. In particular, they agreed to encourage the  federal government to expand the Nutrition North Canada program to ensure  Canadians living in northern and remote communities can benefit from improved  access to healthy foods.

To drive  health care transformation, P/T Ministers discussed their commitment to  collaborate further on quality, compassion, care and sustainability of long  term care for seniors.

Further,  PT Ministers unanimously agreed to ask Health Canada to delay consideration of  the approval of the generic form of Oxycontin pending further research.

Ministers  discussed how the shift in the federal government’s approach on health issues  is impacting Canadians. Ministers would like to discuss with Minister Aglukkaq  decisions made by the federal government without consultation.

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Media contact:
Sherri  Aikenhead
Director  of Communications
Department  of Health and Wellness
Government  of Nova Scotia
902-456-6386
Sherri.Aikenhead@gov.ns.ca