What is “primary health care”?
Primary health care refers to basic, everyday health care services accessed by Canadians.
Primary health care is about:
Preventing people from becoming ill or injured
Managing chronic conditions
Making the most effective use of health provider expertise
Treating acute and episodic illness
Efficiency and coordination
Access
Individuals playing an active role in their own health care
Understanding that factors outside the health care system impact health
(National Primary Health Care Awareness Strategy)
What do the four pillars of primary health care represent?
The
Primary Health Care framework is built on four key pillars or elements.
Those pillars, briefly described below, are key to fostering and
strengthening the delivery of health and wellness care. For more
information about any of the pillars, just click on it.
Teams – A team of health care providers works with you to improve care.
Information – Information is co-ordinated between health care providers.
Access – You have access to the right care at the right time.
Healthy Living – A focus on prevention and self-care helps keep you well.
What are the benefits of primary health care?
Efforts
to strengthen primary health care are geared to helping sustain
Canada’s health care system over the long-term and providing enhanced
services to you and all Canadians.
Some of the most immediate benefits of strengthening primary health care include:
Increased access to primary health care resources;
Organizations that address the unique health care needs of the populations they serve;
Multidisciplinary approaches to care;
Health care that emphasizes health promotion and the ongoing management of chronic diseases;
Expanded access to essential services; and
Improved integration with other health services, such as hospitals, home care and specialists.
In
the longer term, strengthening primary health care has the potential to
keep waiting lists down, lessen the pressure on emergency rooms and
make the system more sustainable in the long term.
(National Primary Health Care Awareness Strategy)
Is there evidence that primary health care can help with the long-term sustainability of the health care system?
Primary
health care is about improving quality and access – for example,
offering supports and options other than emergency rooms outside of
regular office hours, actively managing chronic diseases to avoid or
minimize complications and emphasizing health promotion to help you and
your family stay well.
Where these types of innovations have been implemented, there are some impressive results.
Telephone
advice lines, such as Healthline, have been implemented in most
jurisdictions in recent years and there is a growing body of evidence to
suggest that they are succeeding in supporting more effective use of
emergency rooms.
Managing the health care system will always involve
difficult decisions regarding resource allocations, but the quality and
access improvements offered by primary health care will be key to
maximizing outcomes and ensuring its long-term future.
Is primary health care something new?
Primary
health care is not a new concept. There are a number of
well-established primary health care clinics across Canada that have
been in operation for many years. Countries around the world agreed to
its importance as early as 1978, when the World Health Organization held
an international conference on primary health care.
At the national
level, First Ministers from across Canada met in September 2000 and
agreed that improving primary health care is crucial to the renewal and
long-term sustainability of the health care system. To that end, the
federal government invested $800 million in a Primary Health Care
Transition Fund to support the provinces and territories in their plans
to improve and expand primary health care delivery in Canada.
Following
the release of the Romanow Commission report in 2002, the First
Ministers continued their focus on primary health care. The 2003 Health
Care Renewal Accord identified primary health care as a priority and
placed particular focus on increasing access and building primary health
care teams that include a range of health professionals.
Provinces
and territories are continuing to work on primary health care and a
number of key initiatives are underway across the country.
(National Primary Health Care Awareness Strategy)
Have primary health care sites been established in Heartland?
The
first primary health care site in Saskatchewan was established in
Heartland at the Beechy Health Centre. That site is still in operation,
with satellite sites located in Lucky Lake and Kyle. A primary health
site is also in operation in the community of Eatonia. Heartland
continues its work to expand the number and type of Primary Health Care
teams available to serve its citizens.
Are there other primary health care initiatives taking place in the region?
There
are several examples of the primary health care approach at work in
Heartland. In addition to the health care professionals in and around
Beechy that make up the chronic disease management team, there is also a
Diabetes Strategy team. Members work hard to organize an annual
Diabetes in Focus Education Day. More than a hundred people with
diabetes from all across the region attend, to find out the latest
information on managing their condition.
All Heartland residents have
24-hour, 7 day a week access to toll-free telephone services like
HealthLine and the Smoker’s Helpline, as well as to the Healthline
Online website. All of these are examples of primary health care at work
in your communities, providing you with access to expert information
when and where you need it.
By collaborating with health
organizations and governments in Saskatchewan and throughout Canada, the
Heartland Health Region continues to improve primary health care for
its residents.