February 8, 2012
Editorial:
New
"plan," same old story
So have you seen those Wendy's
commercials, the ones where the guy picks up a T-shirt from a used
clothing sale with the slogan “Where's the beef?” across the front and
people smile and congratulate him on the shirt. The ads are an update
on the hugely successful “Where's the beef?” campaign Wendy's ran back
in the 1980s and are a clever way to revive old associations and
impressions - that Wendy's is where you go if you want a “real” burger
- in a campaign with a current twist. Like any ad campaign, however, a
catchy slogan only goes so far - if Wendy's burgers don't stand up to
the test, consumers are quickly going to see through the claims and
reject the slogan. To put it in Wendy's terms, if you're going to ask
“Where's the beef?”, you'd better be able to deliver.
Those Wendy's commercials came to mind last week with the Ontario
government's announcement of its “Action Plan to Transform Health
Care.” The plan promises more emphasis on promoting healthy lifestyles,
moving care closer to communities, providing more support to help
seniors stay in their own homes, and a more “patient-centred” formula
for funding health care.
“The simple truth is that we can’t keep increasing health care spending
at the rate we have to date. This, coupled with the current state of
our provincial deficit and Ontario’s aging population, means that we
need to make immediate reforms to our health care system,” the plan
document says. “We must make changes today to protect our universal
health care system. This action plan will get us there, but to achieve
our goals we are going to need the support of the entire system... From
patients to doctors, front-line nurses to hospital administrators,
personal support workers to LHINs - everyone has a role to play in this
health care transformation.
“This is a call to action. We all must share the common goal of a
health care system that will provide even better care for patients at
less cost - for our loved ones who are aging and for the generations
that will follow us. In tomorrow’s health care system there is no room
for self-interest, only the best interest of patients. There is more
work to be done, but we are building on the progress we’ve made
together and willingness from across the sector to embrace a
patient-centred system.”
Doesn't that all sound good! Of course it does. The only problem is,
just like those Wendy's commercials, all the themes that the province's
new “action plan” raises are just a new twist on ideas that have been
around since the 80's. Healthier lifestyles, community-based care,
support for seniors, a system that focuses on the patient and not the
institution - been there, done that, got the T-shirt, heard it all
before. That's not to say that they're bad ideas, just that
implementing them is obviously more difficult than the province lets on
- if they weren't, we would have seen far more evidence of the
“transformation” of health care across the province long before now.
Transformation is taking place, no doubt about it, but it's a slow,
incremental process. Trying to change a system as vast as Ontario's
health care will always run up against roadblocks and vested interests,
and that's where our faith in this government's ability to move forward
with its action plan gets shaky. Since its election in 2003, the
McGuinty government has rarely shown the stomach to push through tough
decisions, at least not so far as it involves the public sector.
The province's “Action Plan to Transform Health Care” sets out a - dare
we say it? - common sense direction for the future of health care. But
like the Wendy's commercials, there's really nothing new here.
Platitudes and bromides are all very well, but the proof will be in
real, measurable results. In the coming years, the question won't be,
what was your plan? The question will be, where's the beef?
TM
Editorials
in the North Renfrew Times are written by members of the
paper's community-based Editorial Board. Current members of the board
are:
Lianne Shea (LS), Hilary Angell (HMA), Al
Rose (HAR),
Kay McQuade (KM) - chair, Jay Sur (JKS), Sham Sunder (SS), and
editor-in-chief Terry
Myers
(TM). Membership on
the
editorial
board is open to area residents who demonstrate an interest in local
issues
and an ability to express their thoughts in writing. For more
information
on joining the editorial board, write here.
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