A manifesto launched by leading Canadian spinal cord injury (SCI) experts calls on Canadian healthcare providers and stakeholders to coordinate in order to improve care and the health of SCI patients in Canada.

A news release issued by the University Health Network (UHN) states that the Spinal Cord Injury: A Manifesto for Change is based upon the consensus of 23 experts and outlines the long-term issues that face SCI patients, including secondary health concerns, increased need and utilization of healthcare services, and disparate access to care, services, and expertise.

The manifesto was launched October 2 at the annual National SCI Conference in Toronto, Canada.

The release reports that the manifesto spotlights four key actions needed to transform SCI healthcare delivery for three health problems. These problems are pressure ulcers, fractures, and cardiovascular disease. The conditions are linked to a significant burden of illness and in extreme cases, risk of death among SCI patients, the release reports.

Cathy Craven, BA, MD, FRCP(C), MSc, CCD, lead author and physiatrist, Toronto Rehab, UHN, explains, “A huge gap in Canada is that these secondary conditions are not being recognized or managed in an appropriate setting. Too often people with these complex conditions seek out urgent care, present to the ER, or are unnecessarily hospitalized.”

The action plan laid out in the manifesto is intended to augment the health and reduce the personal burden and societal resources required for living with chronic SCI, the release says; a plan that it notes should be undertaken collectively by the Canadian SCI health sector.

In the release, Craven adds that access to care and services for SCI patients is not equal across Canada.

“We would like to change that. We have learned a great deal from development of specialty outpatient services within SCI programs like Toronto Rehab’s skin and wound clinic, post fracture care and non-invasive cardiovascular screening. These can be adopted across the country for a coordinated and consistent approach to SCI healthcare delivery,” she adds.

The action plan calls for four action items to be met in order to transform SCI care during the next 5 years.

The first requires investment in specialty outpatient rehabilitation services to reduce the number of inappropriate SCI-related emergency room visits and unnecessary hospital admission for pressure ulcers, fractures, and cardiovascular disease in the next 5 years. The release states that the second action item calls for efforts to reduce the incidence and severity of pressure ulcers, fractures, and cardiovascular disease among SCI patients.

The third requires accelerated access to new technologies and advanced rehabilitation therapies. The fourth and final action item highlights the need for the creation of a widely accessible national dataset to track the diagnosis and management of pressure ulcers, fractures, and cardiovascular disease among Canadians with SCI.

Craven notes that to move forward with the action plan, the manifesto’s team is engaging with its partners.

“We have existing tools, technologies, expertise and services that need to be refined and improved upon and this can only be done by working together to transform care for the 86,000 Canadians living with SCI,” Craven says.

Source: University Health Network