Health & Healthcare platforms
Here's what the PEI 2023 parties are promising.Access to abortion services
NDP
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Fully-fund medical and surgical abortion services, and increase access across the Island, especially in rural areas
Ambulance and emergency wait-times
PC
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Hire more physician assistants and nurse practitioners to provide Emergency Room care
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Make virtual care apps like Maple free
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Set up a task force to create a plan for reducing delays when offloading patients from ambulances
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Hire more care providers and patient advocates to provide waiting room support
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Provide up to $20k more funding to fire departments offering Medical First Responder services
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Add four full-time ambulances
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Provide free tuition for primary and advanced care paramedics who serve in PEI for two years
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Offer recruitment incentives for rural paramedic positions
Green
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Add dedicated staff to ER waiting rooms to do assessments and communicate with patients
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Increase paramedic wages, at least to be in-line with other Maritime provinces
Liberal
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Make the Premier in charge of healthcare for two years
NDP
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Hire physician assistants to ease pressure on regional hospitals
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Provide speical bonus funding for secure staffing at district hospital emergency rooms
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Create a publicly-owned agency to operate extramural emergency medical services
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Provide clear standards for the delivery of ER services and ambulance response times
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Expand Holland College's paramedic training programmes
Chronic pain
PC
Dental care and optometry
Diabetes
PC
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Remove the age requirement on the Diabetes Insulin Pump Program
Green
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Increase diabetes supports and education
Liberal
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Expand funding for diabetes treatment
"Expand funding for diabetes treatment so that Islanders have access to timely and affordable diabetes care" — Healthcare First: An Action Plan for Islanders, 2023-03-22
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Drugs and addiction
Fitness and wellbeing
Gender-affirming care
NDP
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Provide and cover a full range of gender-affirming care services
Health PEI and culture in the system
Green
Long-term care
PC
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Expand electronic medical records to manors and nursing homes
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Increase the monthly comfort allowance for residents in care
Green
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Offer low-interest loans to private long-term care facilities to make capital improvements
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Transition away from for-profit care by giving government an ownership stake in for-profit homes
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Add new long-term care beds in the public system
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Legislate national standards for long-term care
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Review long-term care and community care home fees
"Islanders have expressed concerns about the rising cost of community care and long-term care, and how much families of seniors in care are expected to pay. There are also concerns about the amount of a senior’s income and assets are required to be given up when they enter care. A Green government would immediately review these fees and regulations to make sure Islanders are not paying more than is necessary." — peigreens.ca backgrounder, 2023-03-17
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Liberal
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Make the national long-term care standards mandatory
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Expand nursing care for treating dementia patients in public and private facilities
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Develop new expanded training programmes for long-term care
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Pay community care facilities and nursing care facilities the same for non-health services
NDP
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Prioritise livable wages, stable work, and health and safety for long-term and home-care workers
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Improving living spaces, programming, and staffing for residents with dementia and severe impairment
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Require a standard number of daily hours of care for nursing home and community care residents
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Expand the scope of practice of personal care workers
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Invest in training programmes and incentives to address staffing shortages
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Push back on privatisation
Mental health
PC
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Provide funding for a dedicated resource to provide mental health support to the Autism Society of PEI's members and their families
Green
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Add counselling positions to family clinics and emergency rooms
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Build a new mental health hospital
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Do a full review of the Mental Health Act
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Increase funding to the adult ADHD clinic, and make it permanent
Liberal
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Create a 10-year plan for providing accommodations to people living with mental illness without stable housing
NDP
Natal care
Prescription drugs & pharmacare
Prevention and treatment
Green
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Provide free water safety lessons to all primary age students
Liberal
NDP
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Improve access to programmes that support healthy living and disease prevention
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Provide comprehensive services for people with, or at risk of, HIV, including harm reduction and anonymous HIV testing
Primary care
PC
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Add 16 more Patient Medical Homes by the end of 2024
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Make virtual care apps like Maple free
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Add 100 new full-time positions supporting medical homes
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Create Mobile Primary Care Clinics
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Launch walk-in clinics led by nurse practitioners
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Attach all patients on the Patient Registry to a Medical Home within the next 2 years
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Expand the Charlottetown and Summerside Primary Care Access Clinics, and open new ones in West Prince and Kings County
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Allow people to access telehealth services at libraries and Access PEI locations
Green
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Build a new facility for the Harbourside Medical Clinic in Summerside
Liberal
NDP
Regional healthcare
Rural healthcare
Senior at-home care
PC
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Provide $500/year rebates for home-based medical alert systems
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Add 50 new positions over 2 years to provide home care services and support for patients discharged from hospitals
Green
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Expand homecare services
Liberal
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Expand the home-care budget
NDP
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Prioritise livable wages, stable work, and health and safety for long-term and home-care workers
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Push back on privatisation
Seniors' health & services
PC
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Increase the Seniors Tax Credit to $6,510, and raise the threshold to $36K
Green
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Increase supports for reducing the cost of hearing aids
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Increase resources for the Seniors Navigator
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Increase funding for the Seniors Independence Initiative
Liberal
NDP
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Create a PEI Retirement Pension Plan, with benefits indexed to inflation
Sexual and reproductive health
PC
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Provide access to free contraceptive care
Green
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Provide free access to birth control, including oral contraceptives and intrauterine devices
Liberal
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Later expand to fertility treatment
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Provide public coverage for prescription contraceptives
"Increase investments in women’s reproductive health starting with public coverage for prescription contraceptives and expansion to fertility treatment funding" — Healthcare First: An Action Plan for Islanders, 2023-03-22
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NDP
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Invest in public education about sexuality, gender, consent, and sexual and reproductive health
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Fully cover contraceptive drugs and devices
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Provide comprehensive services for people with, or at risk of, HIV, including harm reduction and anonymous HIV testing
Speech and hearing
Staffing shortages
PC
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Make on-Island tuition free for RCWs, LPNs, and Paramedics who serve in PEI for two years, and provide bursaries for LPNs, RNs, and Paramedics who study off-Island
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Provide free licenses for returning healthcare workers who want to do casual or part-time work
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Guarantee that students studying in healthcare will get full-time positions the day after they graduate
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Legislate recognition of domestic and foreign RCW, LPN, and RN credentials
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Work with post-secondary institutions to help retrain RCWs as LPNs and LPNs as RNs, while keeping them at work
Green
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Start a study to figure out if a medical school is the best way to address staffing shortages
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Cut back on administrative work for health professionals
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Regularly review wages to ensure they're competitive with other provinces
Liberal
NDP
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Fast-track licensing of foreign-trained health professionals
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Hire physician assistants to ease pressure on regional hospitals
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Create a travel nurse programme
Training more staff
PC
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Make on-Island tuition free for RCWs, LPNs, and Paramedics who serve in PEI for two years, and provide bursaries for LPNs, RNs, and Paramedics who study off-Island
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Guarantee that students studying in healthcare will get full-time positions the day after they graduate
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Start an Emergency Medicine Residency Program
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Work with post-secondary institutions to help retrain RCWs as LPNs and LPNs as RNs, while keeping them at work
Green
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Start a study to figure out if a medical school is the best way to address staffing shortages
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Increase UPEI training seats for Nurse Practitioners
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Create a Physician Assistant training programme at UPEI
Liberal
NDP
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Fully-fund the new medical faculty at UPEI
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Expand Holland College's paramedic training programmes