No Band-Aid solutions: 'Six big ideas' to transform Canadian health care
Dr. Danielle Martin, vice president of Women's College Hospital in Toronto, prescribes a drastic health care overhaul in her new book Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians.
One of Martin's key ideas is what she calls "a return to relationships." Martin believes every individual should have a relationship with a primary care doctor, or nurse practitioner, to guarantee personalized and efficient care.
We know that health-care systems that are focused on primary care are much more affordable.-Dr. Danielle Martin
Martin says the valuable information gleaned from a long-term patient-doctor relationship shaves significant time off prescribing treatment and delivers higher levels of care overall. She see's every conversation as an investment in future efficiencies.
In turn, Martin says it's the family practitioner's responsibility to be an advocate for their patient throughout the rest of the medical network.
"It's the job of the family doctor, of primary-care team, to be the quarterback for a person's care across the system."
But Martin says there are huge communication breakdowns between players in health care, and facilitating dialogue between medical agencies is key to improving care.
On The Current, Martin elaborates, and speaks to her other big ideas for tackling issues in our health-care system.
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Willow Smith, and Anna Maria Tremonti.