PrintUNA members urged to contribute to Alberta social policy discussion
A United Nurses of Alberta submission drafted in response to the Alberta government's call for discussion of a social policy framework calls for all social policy legislation, regulation and public programs to be drafted with their impact on the health of all Albertans in mind.
This means considering and acting on the determinants of health in all policy goals, not merely responding to specific health issues as they arise, the UNA submission says.
UNA also proposes eight specific policy strategies that will foster improved health and security for all Albertans.
These include, bringing long-term care into the provincial public health system, developing a provincial public pharmacare system to ensure all Albertans can afford therapeutic drug treatments, and resisting U.S.-style health care privatization.
The Alberta Government has set up a website on which it says citizens may participate in the process of developing the policy by responding to a survey and taking part in an on-line conversation about the province's social policy framework.
UNA urges its members to visit this government page - which is found at www.socialpolicy.alberta.ca - and responding to the survey and participating in the forums.
Click here to read UNA's brief to the Alberta Government on a Social Policy Framework for Alberta.
For additional background, click here to read the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions' Checklist for Strengthening Health Care in Canada, and here to read the Canadian Health Coalition's Principles to Ensure the Future of Medicare.
