Archived Page 3: Health Canada – 2015-16 – Departmental Performance Report – Section I

Progress Toward the Priority

In 2015-16, Health Canada worked with provinces, territories and other health care partners on health system renewal, innovation and sustainability. The Department supported the former Minister's engagement with the public and stakeholders on opportunities and challenges for Canada's health care system through speeches, roundtables, and outreach, and pursued discussions with the provinces and territories on health care innovation. In July 2015, the report from the Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation was made public.

Health Canada is leading the Minister's mandate to engage with the provinces and territories to develop a new Health Accord, with a focus on prescription drugs, home care, mental health and health innovation. Accord discussions were formally launched at the Health Ministers' Meeting in January 2016.

Health Canada addressed priority health issues through collaboration with key pan-Canadian and other organizations under its Grants and Contributions program. Highlights for 2015-16 include support to:

• Canada Health Infoway to advance the implementation and adoption of digital health information technologies, and undertake, with new funding announced in Budget 2016, short-term digital health initiatives in e-prescribing and telehomecare, in collaboration with provinces, territories and other stakeholders.
• Canadian Institute for Health Information to improve and report on national health information and to improve monitoring of prescription of drug abuse.
• Canadian Partnership against Cancer which has accelerated uptake of new knowledge and coordinated approaches to advance cancer control in Canada.
• Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health to inform health care decision-makers about the effectiveness and efficiency of health technologies.
• Mental Health Commission of Canada to foster change and innovation in the area of mental health.
• Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement to support the spread and scale-up of health care innovation.
• Brain Canada Foundation in support of the Canada Brain Research Fund, an organization dedicated to advancing brain research.
• Canadian Patient Safety Institute to improve the culture of patient safety and building capacity in Canada's health care system.

Health Canada worked with multiple stakeholders including National Anti-Drug Strategy partners, provincial and territorial governments, health portfolio partners and other stakeholders in developing a new Anti-Drug Strategy Initiatives program framework and priorities to align the program with emerging federal policy objectives.

Based on a decision by the Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health, an ad hoc Federal/Provincial/Territorial Health Information Working Group was also established to strengthen pan-Canadian collaboration on health information governance, analytical capacity, information infrastructure and data sharing.

Progress Toward the Priority

As part of the implementation of its Regulatory Transparency and Openness Framework Action Plan, Health Canada launched the Drug and Health Product Inspections Database; posted guidance for licensed producers of marijuana for medical purposes; increased information in the Drug and Health Product Register, and posted annual compliance and enforcement information for pesticides and marijuana for medical purposes.

Health Canada pro-actively released regulatory information in useful formats, engaged Canadians and created opportunities to dialogue with stakeholders. Highlights for 2015-16 include:

• Completed a drug dataset in the Drug and Health Product Register.
• As part of its initiative to ensure that drug labels are written in plain language and potential side effects of medications are accurately indicated, Health Canada completed external consultations on its related guidance document and templates.
• Posted the results of a consultation on the Framework for Consumer Health Products: What We Heard and developed an outreach strategy to strengthen communication on natural health products to inform and provide more clarity to consumers related to the safety, and quality of health products.

The Department informed and engaged Canadians on important health and safety issues, and provided more information so that Canadians can see how Health Canada enables industry compliance and enforces regulatory rules. Highlights for 2015-16 include:

• Developed and posted Amendments to the Food and Drugs Act: Guide to New Authorities to help Health Canada implement the power to require and disclose information, power to order a label change and power to order a recall, that came into force under the Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act (Vanessa's Law).
• Launched the Drug and Health Product Inspection Database which lists all health product establishment inspections, including inspection ratings and observations.
• Initiated consultations on Mandatory Reporting of Serious Adverse Drug Reactions and Medical Device Incidents by Healthcare Institutions aiming to improved safety for Canadians through availability of better information about the safety of drugs and medical devices, as well as enabling a better understanding of the benefit/harm profile of marketed health products.

Health Canada continued to modernize nutritional information on food labels and promote awareness, understanding and use of food labels to support Canadians in making healthy eating decisions. Highlights for 2015-16 include:

• Published a regulatory proposal to update the basis of the % Daily Values, the list of nutrients required to be shown in the Nutrition Facts table as well as several other changes intended to improve nutrition labelling on food.
• Launched the second phase of the Nutrition Facts Education Campaign, Focus on the Facts, by developing and promoting factsheets and web content (e.g. Focus on the Facts: How to Use Serving Size and % Daily Value), as well as a stakeholder toolkit of resources.
• Undertook activities to communicate the implementation of the evidence review cycle, which aims to help ensure Canada's dietary guidance remains scientifically sound, relevant and useful.

Heath Canada provided Canadians with tools such as modernized food labels to make informed food choices, and created conditions for healthier food options that are lower in sodium and trans fat.

• Established directions moving forward in regards to the sodium reduction initiative and the elimination of trans fat initiative; and began exploring options for the introduction of new restrictions on the commercial marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children.
• Launched the "Eat Well Plate" online tool and "My Food Guide" mobile application to help Canadians access and apply Health Canada's dietary guidance.

The process to review, update and improve the Pest Control Product Regulations progressed with the development of a consultation proposal for amendments to the Incident Reporting Regulations and calls for the proposed amendments to be published for consultation in 2016. Initial consultations were also completed on the draft Guidelines on implementing the Globally Harmonized System for Safety Data Sheets, and broader consultation is planned for 2016-17.

Implementation of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals through stakeholder engagement and provision of guidance on the new Hazardous Products Regulations is being completed on target. Planned stakeholder consultations and outreach sessions, release of planned awareness materials and updated website content have been developed and implemented. In addition, the planned development of a Technical Guidance Manual is on track.

The development of consultation materials for plain and standardized packaging for all tobacco products has been initiated. These consultations will consider plain and standardized packaging measures introduced by Australia, which are currently the most comprehensive in the world, as well as measures that go beyond Australia's approach. Work on the required policy and regulatory amendments has also been initiated.

In the Minister's mandate letter and subsequent December 2015 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada committed to legalizing, strictly regulating, and restricting access to marijuana to keep it out of the hands of children and to keep profits out of the hands of criminals. As part of this work, a Task Force will advise on the design of a new legalized system. In March 2016, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Health wrote to their provincial and territorial counterparts to request recommendations for names of experts to be considered as members of the Task Force. Experts, provincial and territorial governments, and the public will have an opportunity to provide input to the Task Force when it begins its work.

Progress Toward the Priority

Health Canada has strengthened access, quality and safety of health services by promoting and streamlining the process for hiring nurses in isolated and remote communities. It has also put in place measures to monitor mandatory training for nurses to support them in maintaining skills needed to provide quality primary care services in remote settings. Interdisciplinary health teams have also been put in place to support primary care services provided to communities. For example, paramedics are working in Alberta to support primary care nurses and Ontario has increased the number of Nurse Practitioners working in remote and isolated communities. First Nations and Inuit individuals with disabilities, chronic or acute illnesses, and the elderly were also able to receive comprehensive, holistic care in their homes and communities, with approximately 2 million hours of home care services provided in 500 communities.

Service Delivery has been enhanced through collaborative efforts with key partners. Initial work with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada has also been undertaken to support improvements in First Nations infrastructure, enhance the Nutrition North Canada Program, and support the monitoring of water quality on-reserve. The Department also continues to work with First Nations, Inuit, provinces and territories to identify and pursue options for improving health outcomes for First Nations.

Health Canada strengthened its support for mental wellness activities and addictions services through a series of complementary efforts. The Department has begun implementation of the First Nations Mental Health Wellness Continuum Framework, which sets out a shared vision for the future of mental wellness programs. In addition, the Honouring our Strengths Addictions Framework has been established to provide direction on appropriate, culturally relevant services to support addiction. In June 2016, additional funding of approximately $69 million was announced to support immediate measures that will provide urgently needed help to address the health and mental wellness crises being faced by Indigenous people, especially those in isolated and remote communities.

To support the effective delivery of Non-Insured Health Benefits, Health Canada has worked with First Nations and Inuit partners to review benefits and identify opportunities for improvement. This joint review process has made recommendations for improving mental health benefits that have been adopted and will continue to identify joint priorities for improvement. Additional improvements have been made through the prescription monitoring program, which allows the Department to respond to concerns with prescription/dispensing patterns of drugs of concern.

Health Canada continued to promote and support long-term service transformation opportunities with our partners, through the engagement of trilateral forums and similar mechanisms for coordinated planning with partners. Under the Health Services Integration Fund (HSIF), FNIHB has participated in a total of 53 projects that advance the integration of health services within the provinces or territories.

A key achievement in this high priority area has been the development and implementation of a national surveillance plan and regional surveillance activities which align with provincial/territorial surveillance efforts. For example, HSIF funding supported a Data Sharing Agreement between First Nations and the Government of Nova Scotia, which has resulted in the development of detailed reports containing more than 200 health indicators on a wide variety of health issues. Additionally, Health Canada published two health status reports for First Nations in the Atlantic and Saskatchewan regions.

Progress Toward the Priority

Several initiatives have been launched that seek to more closely integrate financial and non-financial planning and performance information for decision-making.

Health Canada has made good progress on the development of a Planning for Enterprise Performance (PEP) system. Business analysis was conducted allowing for work to begin on functional design for a new SAP planning and budgeting solution. Establishing a common business process will require active change management over the next 18 months.

The Department is responding to the new Treasury Board Policy on Results, designed to achieve and enhance the understanding of the results the Department is seeking to achieve as well as the resources used to do so.

Horizontal coordination between key results and delivery leads within the Department (Chief Results Delivery Officer, Heads of Performance Measurement and Evaluation, and Data Strategy Lead) is taking place.

Health Canada is seeking to adopt a standard performance measurement process. A three year Action Plan to close gaps in Performance Measurement Strategies is being implemented. Progress is being monitored and reported to senior management.

Advances to key internal services initiatives were made for Health Canada in 2015-16, including:

• The Department continued to support a culture of high performance and learning through the development and implementation of new performance management tools, guidelines and outreach activities and launch of the Canada School of Public Service development programs. An assessment of the 2015-16 Performance Management Program has been conducted and will be finalised and reported in 2016-17.
• As a result of continued implementation of the Multi-Year Diversity and Employment Equity Plan (MYDEEP) and other initiatives, the Department raised awareness of the importance of Employment Equity, Duty to Accommodate, diversity and inclusion in the workplace as well as maintained representation rates for women, Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities and visible minorities above Labour Market Availability.
• The Department continued to transition to Workplace 2.0 to support an efficient and mobile workplace. This included: modernization of office space, which resulted in the divestiture of space; amenities upgrades; migrations to mobile devices and the provision of access to repositories structured according to the Functional Classification Standard (FCS).
• The Department established a permanent Blueprint Group that has a mandate to address Blueprint 2020 and the Public Service Employee Survey issues, tracking and reporting on progress. This group successfully completed a "100 Days of Change" campaign that culminated in an Innovation Showcase, an event connecting over 500 employees and four Deputy heads. They also launched the LESA Campaign (Lauding Employees' Successes and Accomplishments), an online initiative showcasing employees' stories.