The B.C. government should go beyond medical issues and into a broad range of social services if it wants to better the province's future regarding health care, according to a draft report obtained by CBC News.

The report calls violence against women one of the top health priorities, and recommends the province implement incentives to graduate more women doctors and provide women more access to nurse practitioners to provide primary care.

A coalition of five social groups in British Columbia submitted the report to the B.C. government on Tuesday, responding to Premier Gordon Campbell's call for direction on how best to shape the future of the province's health care.

It urges the government to build more social housing, more women-only shelters and single-room units in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. It also calls for an increase to minimum wage and income assistance rates and to restore funding for medical services like eye exams, physiotherapy, chiropractic, podiatry, massage therapy and naturopathic doctors.

Tuesday is the final day for groups to join in the B.C. government's so-called "Conversation on Health," a $10-million public hearing process that Campbell announced in the spring.

A total of 28 recommendations have been made in the report by the Women's Health Community Advisory Committee, which is comprised of the Vancouver Women's Health Collective, Women Against Violence Against Women, BC Coalition of People with Disabilities, Pacific Association of First Nations Women and Pacific Immigrant Resources Society.

'It is impossible for women to talk about their health care … without looking at the broad range of social services.'— Caryn Duncan, one of report's authors

The report goes beyond merely medical issues like wait lists, drug costs, and hospital beds, said Caryn Duncan, one of the report's authors.

"It is impossible for women to talk about their health care, their children's health care and the community's health, without looking at the broad range of social services that include the quality of our lives," Duncan told CBC News.

The report challenges the B.C. government to apply the same determinants of women's health applied by both the federal government and the World Health Organization, Duncan said.

Various incentives for women

The report also calls for business incentives for women, and the restoration of funding to women's centres and the ministry of women's equality. The Campbell government made those cuts and changes to women's services in 2002.

Duncan said if the government is serious about improving the health care of women, it should pay attention to the core issues outlined in the report that are detrimental to the health of British Columbian women.

"If they implement these recommendations, it will improve health outcomes for women in this province and it's my understanding that that's the motivation behind the Conversation on Health."

In determining what is best for women's health, the B.C. government can't ignore statistics showing a huge wage disparity between men and women, that women are the primary users of the health-care system, and that they make up the majority of multiple job holders, Duncan said.

B.C. Health Minister George Abbott is expected to respond to province-wide submissions to the Conversation on Health by November this year.

New health legislation is expected to be tabled in the legislature in the spring of 2008.