Manitoba NDP pledges to expand 'team-based' care at community clinics

An NDP government would bring a "team-based" approach to Manitoba clinics staffed with a suite of multidisciplinary health-care professionals to offer a broader range of services, cut down patient visits and reduce barriers to care, the party said Friday.

Earlier this week, the NDP announced it would open five neighbourhood clinics one in each quadrant of Winnipeg andone in Brandon to improve access to care at the local level.

On Friday,NDP Leader Wab Kinewannounced plans for five more clinics that would take a "team-based" approach to primary care.Each would have physicians, nurses, mental health experts, social workers, and occupational and physical therapists on staff to offer more services more quickly to those with multifaceted health issues.

"This is a consensus recommendation from experts across the country," he said at a campaign announcement in Winnipeg. "DoctorsManitoba, the Canadian Medical Association are all advocating for us to move to a team-based approach to primary care."

Kinewsaid the NDP would open one such clinic a year for the first three years in government at a cost of $3 million each, and two more in the final year of the term. The total operating cost would be $33 million, he said.

The party would also invest $25 million in helping family physiciansexpand their operations by addingthe same suite of health-care professionals to theirexisting clinics.

Those funds are part of the NDP's previously announced $500-million health care promise, geared toward recruiting more workers to the system. Kinew suggested the team-based model would address shortages byattracting more doctors to practise family medicine.

The team-based model can respond to, for example, a senior who suffered an injury during an accident at home by first having a doctor address pressing medical needs, and then passing them off to the staff social worker to navigate applying for disability financial supports, said Kinew.

"Now the social worker in that primary care team is going to be able to sit down with you and take care ofyour needs in terms of applying for the new benefit, while yourfamily doctor is now able to go and see other patients," he said, touting the model as a way of simultaneously addressing doctor shortages.

Dr. Will Ring said team-based care is "the future of primary care" and will help reduce barriers.

"It's the best way to provide care for patients and it's time for Manitoba to embrace it more fully," Ring said at Friday's announcement.

"With team-based care, health-care providers can meet our patients' complex health needs all in one place."

Kelly-Ann Stevenson, a registered psychiatric nurse, specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry and works in the youth addiction stabilization unit.

"In my current work I see just only a small snapshot of a youth's life. That's not enough," she saidat the Friday morning announcement.

"Team-based family care providers understand family dynamics, physical health, mental health, cultural and spiritual needs."

Kinew's wife,Dr. Lisa Monkman, also spoke at the announcement. The primary care physician said her husband's plan"is the best model of care for families and doctors."

"Right now our health-care system is struggling. Our ERs are overwhelmed and we absolutelydo not have enough family doctors," she said.

"This is where Wab comes in. Wab is always listening to health-care workers and he's taking our solutions, like team-based care."

Doctors Manitoba issued a statement in support of the NDP pledge.

Manitobans head to the polls Oct. 3

• Read fullManitoba election coverage from CBC Manitoba here.