Today, the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health for Canada announced today a temporary pause of the work of the Canadian Task Force on Preventative Health Care. The Task Force, an independent agency reporting to the Public Health Agency of Canada, is responsible for establishing guidelines in several areas, including breast cancer screening guidelines, cervical cancer screening guidelines, interventions for tobacco cessation and screening for depression in children and adults.
I’ve written on this blog about the need to modernize screening practices in Canada and the call for change in the thinking of the Task Force. I am just one of many Canadians and key leaders in the area who have raised concerns on the existing guidance and process of the Task Force and who have loudly called for change.
In October, the Minister requested an External Expert Review of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care to study the Task Force’s governance, mandate and processes. Apparently, that review is advancing quickly and is expected to conclude at the end of March.
The panel is expected to soon come forward with a robust set of recommendations to modernize and improve the Task Force, and through that, screening practices. This will ensure preventive health care guidelines meet the needs of Canada’s health care system and support the well-being of Canadians.
Canadian experts on breast screening are applauding this recent decision by the Minister of Health.
Dr. Jean Seely, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Radiology at the University of Ottawa. “I am delighted that the Federal Health Minister has placed a pause on the outdated Task Force on Preventive Health Care. The outdated processes and governance of the TF have led to the loss of many Canadian lives from breast cancer. This pause will save lives and reduce the harms of more treatment for late-stage diagnoses of breast cancer. I am confident that the EER will be patient-centred and that their recommendations will minimize the harms of delayed diagnoses of breast cancer while addressing the diversity of the Canadian population by including experts in the new structure.”
Dr. Anna Wilkinson, family physician with a special interest in oncology: “The Task Force sets the standards for preventive care, like cancer screening, in Canada. The Task Force drives how Family Doctors counsel their patients, what screening provinces and territories provide, and fundamentally, what cancer screening each Canadian can access. Our current Task Force recommendations have resulted cancer screening in Canada that lags far behind the latest science- and Canadians are paying with their lives. It is time for our Canadian screening guidelines to be innovative and embrace modern science- leveraging Canadian expertise to improve cancer outcomes, health equity and costs to our system.”
Dr. Martin Yaffe, PhD, Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto: “I applaud the Minister’s decision. Current preventive healthcare guidelines ignore many Canadians and put them at unnecessary risk. I look forward to a rebuilt, responsible, and effective Task Force that will truly protect the health of Canadians.”
Dr. Shiela Appavoo, Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Radiology & Diagnostic Imaging in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at University of Alberta: “On behalf of the Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Guidelines, I thank the Health Minister for this announcement and we look forward to a fundamental rethinking and rebuilding of the Canadian task force on preventive healthcare. A rebuild that includes fulsome involvement of specialist and other content experts as well as modern evidence.”
See my video take here.
