WHEREAS the provincial government made a Throne Speech commitment to expand the provisions of the Travel Assistance Program to improve access to funding for medical travel expenses for northern and rural residents and it was announced that Northern Health has proposed three pilot sites for the program Kitimat, Robson Valley and Fort Nelson and will continue to explore subsidized accommodation and further develop criteria to implement the program; AND WHEREAS local and individual communities are best able to assess circumstances and determine the need of their citizens: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Northern Health be requested to establish local mechanisms to handle disbursement of the funding for medical travel expenses for citizens within those communities.
Ministry of Health Government has paid special attention throughout the restructuring of the British Columbia health system to the challenges of rural and remote British Columbians, including travel to access specialized health services. Travel for patients from rural and remote areas to specialized health care can be covered by various ways. These include: - income assistance and existing programs such as Travel Assistance Program; - programs offered by NGOs; and now - a new rural travel program designed to further improve access. In March 2005, government announced the new rural travel program Health Connections that will provide 6 million to assist four health authorities address specific rural travel needs, which are not addressed by existing programs. Northern Health received a 4 million allocation from this fund and has designed the program in consultation with local communities to improve access. All programs comply with a set of provincial principles and guidelines.