Good Morning MHA's - NEW POLL HEALTH - NL Dead Last

Good Morning to our MHA's - and after another long night of debate let me give you some Carnation Breakfast to wake you up.

Secondly - I better get this information out before Steve Kent shuts down the House or perhaps all documents are barred by Bill 29.

So Vickie Kaminski is headlined in the Telegram today "Best way to gain confidence is performing well".

Read this NEWS

Star exclusive poll shows Saskatchewan most satisfied with health care, Newfoundland the least

If you live in Saskatchewan, chances are you’re pretty satisfied with health care. In Newfoundland — not so much.

And in Ontario, you’re happy with family doctors, but much like the other provinces, you feel emergency services could use some work.

A new poll exclusive to the Star shows wide-ranging satisfaction with health care across the provinces, with Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick scoring highest, and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland falling behind.

In Saskatchewan, 26 per cent of respondents were “very satisfied” with health care, and in Manitoba and New Brunswick it was 25 per cent.

In Newfoundland, only 10 per cent were very satisfied, followed by 13 per cent in Nova Scotia.
“Saskatchewan, which is sort of the birth place of medicare, has the highest satisfaction ratings with health care,” said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, which conducted the poll.

“Then it varies considerably across the country.”

Bozinoff attributed the low overall score in Newfoundland to a shortage of specialists, such as cardiologists and pediatricians, and poor ratings for laboratories, possibly due to lack of access.
“That’s probably driving the dissatisfaction, the low satisfaction numbers, in Newfoundland overall,” he said.

A total of 75 per cent of respondents in Manitoba, 72 per cent in New Brunswick and 71 per cent in Saskatchewan were either very satisfied or satisfied with health care. In Ontario it was 66 per cent.
The survey found Ontario is above average for satisfaction with family doctors, specialists, diagnostic labs and hospitals, but fell behind the average on pharmacists and dentists.

The most highly rated health-care service in the survey was pharmacists, with an average of 63 per cent of respondents saying they were “very satisfied.” In Quebec, it’s 71 per cent, but in Ontario it’s 58 per cent.

The lowest satisfaction ratings went to walk-in clinics and emergency room services, which scored a national average of 21 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.

Emergency services were the poorest received across the country. In Ontario 17 per cent of respondents were very satisfied with the emergency room, while Saskatchewan was the only province to top one-fifth of respondents. Newfoundland, Quebec and Manitoba ranked lowest at 9 per cent.
Hospitals scored highest in Prince Edward Island at 31 per cent, followed by Ontario and Saskatchewan with 26 per cent each. Newfoundland was last at 8 per cent.

Satisfaction with walk-in clinics was also highest in P.E.I. at 28 per cent, followed by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at 24 per cent.

Family doctors were best received in Ontario and Saskatchewan, with 40 per cent of respondents very satisfied. The lowest scores go to P.E.I. at 29 per cent, and Newfoundland and Alberta at 32 per cent each.

In general, the survey found Canadians over 65 were more satisfied with hospital services, walk-in clinics, family doctors, pharmacy services, dentists and emergency services.

The poll results are based on an interactive voice response telephone survey of 3,932 randomly selected residents aged 18 or older across Canada. It was conducted on May 30-31st, 2012.

Results based on the total sample are considered accurate, plus or minus 1.56 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Minister Sullivan should Answer or Resign $$$$ wasted!

Sue's Blog featured two posts on the "secret committee" of government responsible for advising the Minister of Health regarding new listings of generics on our formulary.

Please read Press Here Part 1 and Press Here Part 2

Further to these posts - I would like to inform the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that we have lost almost 1 million dollars more from January - April of 2012.

Many of you are familiar with Plavix - a drug that helps to prevent future risks of heart attacks and strokes. 

In Canada it is estimated that the introduction of the generic form of Plavix would save Canadians and provincial drug plans hundreds of millions a year.

The sales of Plavix are estimated to be 300 million a year - Newfoundland and Labrador's portion is 6.6 million.

The cost of Plavix versus the cost of the generic equivalent is about double.

The generic version was approved by Health Canada, December 2011 and was listed by several provinces by January 2012.

4 months will have passed before Newfoundland and Labrador gets the benefit of the new generic. That means that we will have spent $1,650,000 when we could have spent $822,500 if the generic was listed in a timely manner.

Why would people in Nova Scotia or Ontario get timely access when we do not?

Why are we wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in health care when we have people crying out for surgery to remove access skin - or waiting on cardiac surgeries?

Over the next few days I will list a dozen more examples of extreme waste in our system.

When will the Opposition parties demand answers?

When will the media ask questions?

What is going on in this secret committee? Will government release the minutes of their deliberations?

Remember now this is only one drug. Imagine what dollars have been and continue to be wasted.

The Auditor General needs to be called in. Investigation needed.

Opposition Parties seek Opposition Movement

The opportunity is there for the Opposition parties in Newfoundland and Labrador - to make a difference.

The people of this province are upset that Muskrat is being rammed down their throats by people who are drunk on power and obsessed by it.

The people of this province are upset that the Auditor General is once again being hindered - leaving us to wonder who is making and how they are making decisions on the expenditure of billions of dollars.

The people of this province are upset that the Public Accounts Committee has not met in public for 6 years despite the fact that each party had at least one MHA taken off to a prison cell for criminal behavior regarding the use of public funds.

The people of this province are upset that Chief Justice Green's report on the whole mess and accountability has been essentially trashed - while each party points fingers here or there.

The people of this province are upset that kissing up to Stephen Harper by a weak Premier has resulted in continued cuts by the feds. When they are not cutting they are increasing costs for people travelling on the Island's Trans Canada Highway - the Marine Atlantic Ferry.

 The people of Labrador need a highway - a real highway before the Island based government strips yet more valuable resources - in return for temporary employment.

The people of the province are upset that industry continues to downsize or close - paper mills and fish plants.

The people of rural communities are upset that they are being forsaken for the temporary wealth of St. John's Metro from non-renewable offshore resources owned by the feds.

The people of this province are upset that Search and Rescue and Fisheries science are being diminished and tinkered with - like we are second class participants in (Con)federation.

The people of this province are upset that shipbuilding is not king in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The people of this province are upset that speaking out against a policy of the DunWill government may mean personal consequences. (This is the same crew that were hyped on Whistle Blower legislation) Ha ha ha ha.

The people of this province are upset that Vickie Kaminski seems to spend more time apologizing for continued incompetence, errors, and trouble with our health care system - than doing what she was employed to do - clean it up.

So what then are the Opposition doing?

While Michael is noticeable and relevant on some Health Care issues - they are traditional core NDP positions and do not require a great deal more than repetition. The caucus has one wanna be leader who appears to fancy himself a Jack intellectual. He definitely has the arrogant bit down and definitely believes that people look way up to him.

The Liberals remain fractured with some hoping for a Messiah and others believing they might have a leader already. They might - but that leader must demonstrate it. He must - above all - lead; that's going to take competent and willing staff - exceptional research and then ultimately standing for something.

As a result they are all waiting for the people to cause the opposition they need - in order that a partisan bandwagon may form.

This is exactly what Len Simms was the beneficiary of when the Power of the People took it to Clyde on privatization.

Right now it appears that Opposition members wait for some event organized by a labour group, professional body, or by like-minded citizens and then ask to be invited.

There are some journalists in the province stepping up to the plate and many well-known public figures are weighing in. Ordinary citizens who are not currently consumed by fear that speaking out will make them a "target" of government - are doing their part. The only problem for the Opposition parties is that - as yet - they have not come together.

The opposition parties appear frustrated that there is no pack to follow - so they take a wait and see approach. Right now - we need courageous Opposition members and leadership - in the same way we needed it during the Upper Churchill fiasco.

There is no doubt that Premier Dunderdale is out of her league as it relates to open public debate and therefore hides behind her power.

There is no doubt that decisions are not being made using the best possible information as Dunderdale's government hides behind a curtain and thwarts established processes such as the PUB.

There is no doubt that the Dunderdale government utilizes the skills of a human resource like Ross Reid to control messaging and democracy.

There is no doubt that fear is the optimal choice of persuasion when your mouth can't utter an informed position.

There is no doubt that arrogance is rampant within the regime and that most backbenchers are puppets - hanging on to the best gig they will ever get.

There is no doubt that the PC's claim that all who oppose them are partisan naysayers - is weakened everyday - as more and more well known Tories fall among the aforementioned group.

Right now - sadly - it also appears there is no doubt that the Opposition parties are seeking an opposition movement - that they can follow.

As I write this - I know from experience that all of them would just like me to shut-up. Let's see what punishment they dish out this time. Or as Ches Crosbie may put it - how are they planning to piss on me at every opportunity - when I'm not in the room.

I can assure the reader that the seals are leaving more than cods gutless. Keep clapping and flapping.