In this episode we are talking about an extremely important topic in our province and that is our population state of health and our health care system.

For a bit of background - Newfoundland and Labrador has startling health statistics - We have Canada’s worst life expectancy, as well as highest rates of chronic disease. We have have the worst performance of a health care system in Canada in spite of a 232% increase in health spending since 1981. That means that dollar for dollar we have the worst value for health spending in the country.

Newfoundland has also experienced a swing in its population demographics where we now have a low proportion of children, and a high proportion of seniors.

One of the main factors identified is that our health care system is a 50-year-old institution- based system with an imbalance between community- based services and hospital services

In response to these startling health care facts - On November 5, 2020, the Honourable Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Honourable John Haggie, Minister of Health and Community Services, announced that Dr. Patrick Parfrey and Sister Elizabeth Davis had been appointed Co-Chairs for the Task Force on Health, known as Health Accord NL.