Report to the Senate Standing Committee

Canadian Blood Services’ Response to Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology Report Reviewing the 2004 Health Accord

Canadian Blood Services welcomes the recommendations contained in the report Time for Transformative Change (A Review of the 2004 Health Accord) (PDF) submitted by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to the federal government in March 2012.

We hope the report opens the door to further discussions around the value of pan-Canadian collaboration as a means to promote to sustainable health-care funding and delivery. The findings are another timely confirmation of the need for the transformation of the health-care system and of the benefits of collaboration and integration.

The Senate report noted: “For witnesses appearing before the committee, the way forward was clear: long lasting transformative change could only occur through the breaking down silos between sectors within health care systems; facilitating collaboration among different health care professionals; adopting compatible health information systems; and establishing health governance and funding arrangements to support these developments.”

These four aspects of transformational change speak directly to Canadian Blood Service’s on-going corporate governance and funding model, which can be seen as a 13-year demonstration of successful cross-jurisdictional, cost-sharing in action. Our unique model is one that encourages collaboration and co-operation and is firmly centered on patient outcomes. It succeeds because it allows the provincial and territorial jurisdictions to accomplish more together than they can achieve separately.