Alberta health-care system underperforming, documents show; critics blame UCP 'privatization'
Alberta's health-care system is playing catch-up to pre-pandemic times as new documents obtained by CTV News show the system is underperforming and failing to achieve targets it set out for itself.
An Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI) presentation by Alberta Health Services shows the province not only missed its wait-time reduction target for this current fiscal year, but it doesn't expect to reach the target until the end of the next fiscal year — spring 2024.
Meantime, acute-care sites in Alberta — like publicly owned surgical facilities and hospitals — were expected to perform 282,455 surgeries by the end of the 2022/23 fiscal year, but only performed 245,880 — missing its target by 36,575 surgeries.
For comparison, the province's pre-pandemic baseline was 256,600 surgeries.
So, the province is not only going to miss its 22/23 target, but it's still over 10,000 surgeries from returning to pre-pandemic levels.
"Creating a private surgical centre doesn't create another surgeon, it doesn't create more nurses, it simply moves people out of the public system, and the numbers you have today are showing that -- that they're able to get more surgeries done in private surgical centres and we're not keeping up in the public," said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
“This isn't about access, this isn't about patient care, it isn't about wait lists they claim they're trying to adjust, it's really about using our public dollars to provide profit for private surgical centres."
Earlier this week, health workers shared concerns the situation at a Red Deer hospital is so dire they feel the system will collapse.
"It's creating more chaos in our healthcare and Albertans are the ones who are paying the price, and it is exactly related to this focus that the UCP has on privatizing healthcare," Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley said.
"They're making the problem of overall health-care capacity worse, because they're now stealing those important front-line health-care workers out of the public system and putting them into the private one, where profit is now the fundamental motive."
Health Minister Jason Copping's office says the delays aren't new and it's pleased with AHS reaffirming its commitment to achieve its goals by the end of the next fiscal year.
"We campaigned on reducing surgery wait times after the NDP spent four years watching them get longer and did nothing about them. Reducing wait times is the right goal and we’ll keep working at it until we deliver on our promise to Albertans," Steve Buick, Copping's press secretary, added.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Iran's judiciary confirms rapper Toomaj Salehi death sentence
Iran's judiciary confirmed the death sentence of well-known Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi but added that he is entitled to a sentence reduction, state media reported on Thursday.