CAMH Response to Romanow Commission Report

November 28, 2002

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) supports the overall directions set out in the Romanow Commission's Final Report. We are pleased that the Commissioner has reaffirmed and expanded upon the five principles of the Canada Health Act and has recommended that they apply to more than acute care institutions and physicians.

CAMH was extremely encouraged that Mr. Romanow recognizes that mental health has for too long been the "orphan" of the health care system. We are particularly pleased to see Mr. Romanow recognize the importance of including mental health in overall health care reform initiatives. However, there is still a lot of work to do to fully integrate mental health and addiction care into the health care system.

CAMH is pleased that the Commissioner has not recommended user fees or other private financing mechanisms to address the need for increased investments in the health care system. These approaches are not viable for our community and would create more barriers to accessing care for Canada's most vulnerable people.

CAMH was pleased to see Mr. Romanow's specific recommendation that publicly funded coverage be expanded to include homecare for people with mental illness. Access to homecare for people with mental illness has been a long-standing issue, so we strongly agree that extending homecare for people with mental illness should be part of the first steps taken in moving forward with the report.

We are pleased that Mr. Romanow has focused attention on the need for health promotion, illness and injury prevention and the need to make Canada a world leader in reducing tobacco use. This is consistent with our recommendations that the Commission acknowledge the importance of health promotion and take a broad view of the policy levers that will improve health.