Nova Scotia government holds raffle for healthcare worker ideas | News from Radio-Canada

Nova Scotia healthcare workers with “common sense ideas” on how to improve the system now have a chance to win one of 50 prizes, each worth $1,000.

Prime Minister Tim Houston’s office announced the competition called the Health Care Improvement Challenge on Monday. People are invited to submit ideas that are “simple and easy to implement with little or no funding.”

The Prime Minister says this is another way to listen to health care workers. Opposition leaders say it’s a sign the prime minister is running out of ideas to keep his promise to fix the health-care system.

“Sometimes a little bit of money motivates people to put their ideas aside and we don’t want any barriers,” Houston told reporters at Province House on Tuesday.

The prime minister said the idea came to him during a recent trip to Singapore, where he met with that country’s health care officials. The idea worked there, and Houston said he hopes it can help resolve the frustrations of health care workers here.

Within 12 hours of the competition being announced, Houston said there were more than 200 entries. Eligible ideas will be entered into a draw for the cash prize.

“I’m sure we’ll get an additional number and I’m sure some of them will be actionable. And I’m also sure some of them probably won’t be, but we want the ones that are actionable. We We want to move forward.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill took a different view of the contest.

“I don’t think the best way to make health care policy is through a raffle,” he told reporters.

“I think it’s desperate and it shows us that the ideas the prime minister ran on don’t work.”

Churchill said it’s good to look for good ideas, but they need to be evidence-based and follow “a very thoughtful process” before investments are made and policies are developed.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the race for prime minister was “completely ridiculous.”

The system faces major challenges, such as understaffing, infrastructure deficit and long wait times for services, she told reporters.

“The province is responsible for health care and these are big problems that require big solutions and involve big money,” Chender said.

“And so, instead of deflecting and sweetening the situation for a number of people who are willing to send an email, [the premier] should do the job the people elected him to do and start actually improving health care.

The competition is open until November 22. According to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office, 20 eligible submitted ideas will be pre-selected by a review committee and the public will have the chance to vote for the top 10.

“These top ten ideas will be prioritized, and the government will work with health system partners to implement them, where possible,” the statement said.