AFN surveying First Nation health centres about local needs and priorities
AFN Health Directorate is requesting that all First Nations provide them with an update about local health needs and priorities BEFORE MARCH 15!
Communiqué to First Nations Communities - Sustainability of First Nations Health Resources - Information Request
March 2007
TO: All First Nations Chiefs of Canada
RE: Sustainability of First Nations Health Resources - Information Request
National Chief Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and federal Minister of Health Tony Clement signed a joint work plan on December 7, 2006, at the AFN Special Chiefs Assembly. This joint work plan is not about a new process, but rather is intended to achieve deliverables within a six-month timeframe that targets five key priorities:
- Cross-Jurisdictional Agreements;
- Sustainability;
- Management and Accountability;
- Performance Measurement; and,
- Legislative Base for Public Health.
The joint work plan has received support from the AFN Chiefs Committee on Health with the caveat that it must build on the existing work – work completed by First Nations regions, Tribal Councils, Treaty areas and communities during the development of the national and regional contributions to the First Nations Framework in the Blueprint on Aboriginal Health endorsed by First Ministers and First Nations leaders in 2005. As well, the joint work plan is not intended to replace or delay negotiations undertaken by specific First Nations in funding, policies or programming pertaining to their health care delivery systems and their health care needs.
The AFN’s involvement in the joint work plan will be conducted under the oversight of the AFN Chiefs Committee on Health and the AFN Executive, guided by recommendations from the National First Nations Health Technicians Network. Through this process, First Nations regions have the opportunity to participate in, and review, the work plan’s activities and outcomes. For more information, and to review the entire document, please visit the AFN website at www.afn.ca and, under policy areas, click on Health and Social.
Sustainability of Health Funding
The main priority at this stage of the joint work plan is the lead taken by AFN in completing an analysis into the sustainability of health funding. This work will provide options for allocating resources based on the workload in a community. This contrasts with more abstract funding formulae approaches that federal departments use based on per capita figures, or based on modified formulae that consider some other cost drivers, such as geographic location.
Workload can mean, for example, the number of clients who are seen every day in the health clinic, the number of home care visits during the week, and/or the number of pregnant women or births in the community. Measuring workload accurately is a way to make sure that enough resources are provided each year to meet the health service needs of the community.
We Need Your Input
Currently, there is very little national information on what communities have really determined to be their funding needs. Community funding proposals submitted to Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) are not compiled either regionally or nationally in the negotiating of contribution or transfer agreements. For this reason, the AFN is asking for your assistance in sharing information on how you have assessed what health resources are needed in your community. We have attached a survey questionnaire for communities to complete. This information will help us to create a more accurate picture of need, and the preferred methods of communities for measuring this need, including workload, salaries and infrastructure. Timelines for completing the sustainability analysis is March 31, 2007, so any information you can share by March 15, 2007, is much appreciated.
Please be assured that we will NOT identify your community in any of our reports and this information will not be shared outside of the AFN Health Secretariat and its contractor, FAV COM.
If you have any questions or concerns about the survey, please contact Gina Doxtator, Assistant Director of Health, 1-866-869-6789, extension 413, or gdoxtator@afn.ca..