Health Canada, provinces commit to action
Health Canada, provinces commit to action
“ The response to this crisis needs to be comprehensive, collaborative, compassionate and evidence-based”
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consequences for individuals, families, and communities. The response to this crisis needs to be comprehensive, collaborative, compassionate and evidence-based,” stated Drs. Philpott and Hoskins, in the action plan. This Joint Statement of Action, they stated, reflects a combined commitment to act on this crisis. The action plan outlines several areas where
Ottawa and the provinces plan to collaborate, including gathering pan-Canadian figures on the number of emergency department visits and deaths due to opioid overdoses, and making harmreduction measures, such as the addiction-treatment drug Suboxone, more widely available. As part of the plan, several provinces committed to improve their monitoring of prescription drugs. Some of the other items in Ontario’ s contribution to the Joint Action plan include:
Designating Ontario’ s Chief Medical Officer of Health as Ontario’ s first-ever Provincial Overdose Coordinator.
Developing evidence-based quality standards for health-care providers on appropriate opioid prescribing.
Developing new, evidence-based training modules and academic programs that will provide modernized training to all healthcare providers who prescribe or dispense opioids.
Improving access to important medication information, including a patient guide, for all patients prescribed opioids to help them better understand the associated risks.
Launching a new overdose surveillance and reporting system to support Ontario’ s Provincial Overdose Coordinator.
Delisting from the Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary high-strength formulations of long-acting opioids.
Investing $ 17 million annually in multi-disciplinary care teams, including 17 chronic pain clinics across Ontario, to ensure that patients receive timely and appropriate care to help them manage chronic pain.
Expanding access and availability of healthcare services for more Ontarians who suffer from low back pain.
Expanding training and support to primary care providers, including in rural and remote communities, to enable them to safely and effectively treat chronic pain.
Improving addiction supports and harm reduction, such as enhancing integration of comprehensive primary care, mental health and Suboxone / methadone treatment to better support patients with opioid addiction. MD
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Dialogue Issue 4, 2016