Reducing rates of chronic, non-communicable diseases while achieving affordable healthcare cover are priorities of the Bermuda Goverment’s Health Action Plan, an industry symposium heard at the weekend.

Members of the health insurance and medical communities, Department of Health representatives and Jeanne Atherden, the Minister of Health, Seniors and the Environment, attended the Bermuda Health Strategy Symposium at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute on Saturday.

The Bermuda Health Action Plan 2014-19, designed to complement the Bermuda Health Strategy 2014-19, was the topic of discussion.

Among the main issues discussed were spiralling health insurance costs, the need for collaboration to help balance the needs of insurers, healthcare providers and patients, and the protection of Bermuda’s most vulnerable.

Panellist Martha Dismont spoke on behalf of the Inter-Agency Committee for Children and Families, an umbrella association of social service providers and NGO service provider organisations. Her presentation focused on “conscientious affordable and accessible healthcare”.

Clients most at risk, she said, came under three categories — those with lack of financial independence, lack of nurturing family structure and lack of social systems.

Ms Dismont applauded the Government plan, saying: “Some of their best thinking has been applied to it.

“The document talks about equal access to healthcare, achieving quality measured by the extent to which the ministry can delicately balance the need for essential acute care and treatment, while empowering people to look after their own health and understand what having a chronic, non-communicable disease means.

“What is the concern from my perspective? That we have not been tracking spiralling healthcare costs with the due diligence necessary, and doing something sooner. We have not been scrutinising treatment and its effectiveness.

“We have not, as responsible citizens, focused on and worked hard enough to implement in our own homes the preventive actions that keep us healthy and safe.”

Panellists included the acting chief executive officer for the Bermuda Health Council, Tawana Wedderburn; chief medical officer, Cheryl Peek-Ball; acting director for the Health Insurance Department, Calvin White; chief of staff at the Bermuda Hospitals Board, Michael Weitekamp; Fiona Ross MD; executive vice-president of group insurance at Argus Insurance, Michelle Jackson; and director of the Department for Health, David Kendell.

Ms Atherden said the aim of the action plan was to achieve its goals within a five-year period, but she did not go into detail about how those goals would be reached.

She outlined 14 goals to achieve the core values of the strategy — quality, equity and sustainability.

These goals were access to basic coverage, affordable contributions, appropriate overseas care, paying for quality, electronic health records, addressing long-term care, standards of care, financing efficiency, regulating health technology, providing more health promotion, co-ordinating healthcare delivery, tackling chronic non-communicable disease, and subsidising the vulnerable.