File photo of the entrance to the Emergency Department at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge. (Photo: LNN)

By LNN Staff

Alberta NDP critiques Premier Smith’s work to address health care crisis

Oct 20, 2023 | 3:58 PM

EDMONTON, AB – The Alberta NDP is sounding the alarm on issues around the health care system.

In a news release issued on Friday, October 20, 2023, the Opposition said one year after Premier Danielle Smith promised to fix health care, the crisis in Alberta remains and has “worsened under her leadership”.

David Shepherd, the Alberta NDP Health Critic for Primary and Rual Care said, “Albertans have been experiencing nothing but chaos under Danielle Smith’s leadership. Even as we know we are in a primary care crisis, Danielle Smith’s government is still dragging their feet, announcing yet another task force rather than taking action to support family doctors and expand access to care.”

Shepherd continued, “Under Smith’s leadership, the number of Albertans who need a doctor has skyrocketed, while the number of family doctors taking patients has fallen by nearly 700.”

The NDP noted that a letter from the Alberta Medical Association president remarked that the number of family doctors accepting new patients dropped from 887 in 2020 to 197 in 2023.

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Luanne Metz, the Alberta NDP Health Critic for Emergency and Surgical Care said, “For Albertans who need to access emergency or surgical care, this past year has seen only boasts from Danielle Smith and few improvements.”

Metz added, “In Sundre there has been no obstetrics care available for over 3 years, in Rimbey there has been no obstetrics care for the last two years, There has been no surgeries or obstetrics in Lac La Biche since February. And almost everyday there is a new announcement of another ER closure or twelve hour wait for people to see care. Danielle Smith is failing Albertans.”

The NDP said that according to Alberta Health Services, there are currently 28 facilities experiencing disrupted services in communities from Barrhead to Whitecourt.

Alberta NDP Critic for Mental Health and Addiction Janet Eremenko said, “Danielle Smith’s promise to fix health care in three months has done nothing for the more than one thousand Albertans who lost their lives in the opioid crisis on her watch.”

Eremenko added, “The deadliest month on record occurred on her watch, with a 45 per cent increase compared to the April of last year. Danielle Smith has utterly failed these Albertans, with ideological policies that have seen too many lives ended early.”

READ MORE: Record 56 overdose deaths in first four months of 2023 in Lethbridge

In October 2020, Premier Smith asked Albertans for patience as she embarked on what she referred to as a “bumpy” and “perilous” ride o reorganize the governance structure of provincial health services within 90 days.

READ MORE: Alberta premier says journey to fix health system within 90 days to be ‘bumpy’

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