‘People will die’: Doctors call on Alberta government to save heath care system with urgent action

“Unless government acts and does something to invest and to re-distribute some of those resources to the hospitals, people will die.”

While hospitals in Alberta’s largest cities are already overloaded, Parks said small to medium-sized cities like Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, where he works as an emergency room doctor, are not immune.

“It’s always a trickle-down effect to the regional hospitals, so Lethbridge and Medicine Hat will both be hit,” Parks said.

As the usual summer lull comes to an end and patient counts go up into the fall — as it does every year — the larger hospitals will be overwhelmed supporting those in other cities such as Red Deer.

“It becomes a domino effect through the whole province,” he explained.

“We will not be able to transfer our sickest patients from Medicine Hat and Lethbridge to Calgary any longer. We’ll have to keep them in our hospitals and we’ll do our best.”

Parks and his colleagues called on the province to work collaboratively with health care professionals to stabilize a system he called “on fire” to prevent further deterioration.

In the immediate term, Alberta’s government can invest in after-hours care to reduce the burden on hospitals during peak times, realign physicians for 24-hour coverage, adequately staff support teams and boost the acute care budgets.

Parks, joined by Dr. Troy Pederson, said the province can also reassess how resources are distributed across the health care system and be more transparent about the current state of hospital capacity.

Pederson, speaking to reporters during Monday’s conference, said it’s a widespread failure due to capacity.

Dr. Troy Pederson says the health care system is failing in many different areas. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

“In so many different areas in health care, our system is failing, and eventually the hospitals just don’t have that capacity,” Pederson said.

“We do need more doctors, but honestly, I think we need more capacity within the physicians that are working. And to create increased capacity, you need to have better teams.”

For its part, the office of the health minister on Monday said in response that physicians received approximately $200 million total in after-hours time premiums.

“Physicians are compensated for after-hours care provided in an advanced ambulatory care centre, urgent care centre, active treatment hospital, nursing home or auxiliary hospital during defined after-hours time periods,” a spokesperson for the minister said in a statement to CHAT News.

The AMA negotiated its latest agreement with the government on physician compensation in 2022, according to the health ministry.

Doctors then had the opportunity to bring forward any issues facing physicians such as changes to after-hours provisions, or any other issue facing specific practice settings such as acute care.

The Alberta government remains committed to working with the AMA through the agreement on any concerns physicians have, the spokesperson, Andrea Smith, said.

“There are multiple avenues in which these specific items can be discussed and negotiated appropriately,” Smith added.

Parks is in contact with health minister Adriana LaGrange on a weekly basis, the ministry previously told CHAT News.

James Wood, a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services, said AHS are dealing with staff shortages that are a worldwide phenomenon.

“AHS is experiencing recruitment challenges across the province, and in particular, with physicians in areas outside of main urban centres,” Wood said.

“These challenges are not unique to AHS and are being experienced nationally and internationally.”

by Eli J. Ridder

‘People will die’: Doctors call on Alberta government to save heath care system with urgent action

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