By Sheldon Spackman and Brody Langager

Short Of Expectations

Doctors disappointed with funding for Red Deer Regional Hospital expansion

Feb 26, 2021 | 3:10 PM

Disappointment is being expressed by local doctors on Friday following the release of the provincial budget this week, that shows less than expected funding this year for the expansion of Red Deer Regional Hospital (RDRH).

Thursday’s budget indicates $5million will be funded towards the project this year, with another $19 million planned next year and $35 million the year after, for a total of $59 million over the next three years.

Dr. Kym Jim, spokesperson for the Society for Hospital Expansion in Central Alberta (SHECA), says the $5 million announced for 2021-22, certainly falls short of the initial $100 million that was promised by the government in 2020.

“But I think that at this point, the society really needs some clarity on whether this is a new $60 million or whether there’s still $100 million out there for a total of $160 million allocated to Red Deer,” he explains. “I think that the concern is that if this number is only $60 million, then clearly that’s not going to deliver what the expectations of citizens of central Alberta had been, which had been surgical expansion, more beds and a cardiac lab.”

“So I think that the society at this point and time really seeks clarity from government, and we would like to have a meeting with our local MLAs, and the Minister of Health, and the Premier for that matter as he made the initial announcement to Red Deer to understand what these dollars are really about,” adds Jim.

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Dr. Jim says it’s important to remember that central Alberta has a clear infrastructure deficit over the past decade, at least ten times compared to the spending that’s occurred in the rest of the province.

“Even if this is the high end of the range, which is a $160 million announcement, that still places us hundreds of millions of dollars in deficit in infrastructure spending compared to the rest of the province,” he exclaims. “If it’s only $60 million, it further exacerbates because this represents about 3 per cent of infrastructure spending over the next three years for health, and central Alberta should clearly have more like 10 per cent, and that doesn’t even begin to make up the deficit that has existed in years prior.”

Dr. Keith Wolstenholme, orthopedic surgeon at RDRH, says the less-than-expected funding is very disappointing.

“If you compare investment in Central Zone compared to other zones, we’re short of at least $1 billion. I don’t know why,” he laments. “It’s obviously a political decision. If you look at all the evidence that’s been presented with needs assessments and business cases, it’s pretty clear that Red Deer Regional Hospital has been underfunded.”

Wolstenholme is also unclear as to what the $59 million over the next three years will do for RDRH, but suggests that a cardiac catheterization lab be strongly considered.

“Now that obviously involves some physical infrastructure, but it also involves programs and it also involves hospital beds,” he remarks. “Because if we’re going to take on this new patient population, we have to be able to look after those people afterwards, and to be honest, $60 million over three years is not going to get us much in the way of expanded hospital capacity.”

“I’ll be curious to see what that $60 million is earmarked towards, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope that it’s going to provide us more operating rooms, that it’s going to shorten surgical wait times, that it’s going to provide us more ICU beds, that it’s going to provide us more emergency department stretchers and places to see patients,” adds Wolstenholme. “I just don’t think this is really going to increase capacity, which is ultimately what we need at Red Deer.”

Wolstenholme suggests RDRH should have roughly 50 per cent more capacity than it currently has to properly serve its regional population.

“There’s been absolutely no change in frontline delivery of healthcare in central Alberta since that (last year’s) announcement. There’s been no more beds, there’s been no more surgeries, there’s been no more diagnostic imaging, there’s been no more screening,” he points out. “You know, all of the things we would look at as markers for healthcare in a society, there’s been no increase in any of those metrics since that announcement.”

Wolstenholme concludes that central Albertans need to make it known to the government that this isn’t acceptable.

“I think we need to be lobbying, we need to be applying pressure. I think we need to get on the phone with our MLAs, and I think the public needs to be writing letters to our elected officials, letting them know that once again, to be sort of disrespected, once again to be passed over, it’s not acceptable.”