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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

MORE TO COME, MINISTER SAYS

Alberta government working on long and short term solutions to rural healthcare gaps

Oct 8, 2024 | 12:17 PM

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says the government is working on both long term and short term strategies to address healthcare staffing shortages in rural and remote facilities in central Alberta and throughout the province.

In a virtual conference with media on October 7, she commented, “I think that’s key, to make sure we have short term, medium term, and long term strategies so we’re able to really provide that continuum of care and have a broader impact, but some of them just take a little longer to get off the ground.”

Alberta Health Services (AHS) officials say that as of August 2024, rural communities in the central zone in Alberta had 56 physician vacancies and 121 open nursing positions. They add that between January and August this year, there were 110 physicians recruited to rural Alberta, 53 of which began working in the central zone. Additionally, 416 nurses were hired into the rural workforce, with 163 of them added to the central zone.

In the last few weeks, the ministry has announced multiple different initiatives intended to address these coverage gaps in rural communities, such as the launch of mobile lung screening units, a new bursary to encourage physicians in their resident years to serve in rural communities for a guaranteed three years, working with post-secondary institutions, and more.

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• Alberta creating bursaries for doctors in rural & remote communities
• Alberta bringing mobile lung screening to rural communities

She used Red Deer as an example of where recruiting efforts have been successful, saying the City now has enough physicians that residents don’t need to go on a waitlist to access care.

LaGrange also acknowledged that the government is, “making strides, but there’s more to be done,” adding that it took years for our healthcare system to reach the point it’s at now and will naturally take time to correct.

As a part of the process to restructure Alberta Health Services (AHS), the ministry has been consulting with communities across the province, which is how LaGrange said the gap in rural communities was identified.

“We had over 65 in person generally, and then we had an additional 35 Indigenous consultations in our rural remote communities as well, and we also had 10,000 people attend telephone town halls and over 18,000 reply to surveys. And what we found here is that there is a gap in service delivery with our rural remote locations in particular,” she said.

She shared that the ministry has found that 82 of 177 health facilities are located in rural communities, and that roughly 50 per cent of emergency room visits occur in rural facilities, indicating the need for equitable service, especially given the province’s growth as of late.

“We can’t put everything in every location,” she commented, “but we can certainly make it much more equitable and more accessible, and make sure it’s more consistently delivered as well.”

She finished the conference by saying that more initiatives to address these gaps would be coming soon.

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