Hope is not a strategy, real investment is
Surgeries are being canceled, doctors are planning their exit from the province, nurses’ hours are being cut, and approximately 800,000 Albertans don’t have a family doctor. What will it take for this government to invest in healthcare?
As we brace ourselves for the unveiling of this year’s budget, what’s front of mind for many Albertans is the stark reality we’re all facing when it comes to this province’s healthcare system — a system that is currently hanging on by a thread...of duct tape.
Currently, the government’s status quo for healthcare is characterized by neglect, underfunding, and chronic understaffing. And things are only getting worse.
Right here in Lethbridge, Chinook Regional Hospital has a shortage of anesthesiologists. The situation has become so dire that the Department of Anesthesia anticipates having less than 50 per cent of the staff required to operate by April of this year.
This will mean not only the cancellation of elective surgeries, but it will mean that residents of Lethbridge who require emergency or obstetrical services will need to be transferred to another hospital, hours away.
Albertans deserve better. They deserve better than endless wait times, canceled surgeries, and the uncertainty of whether their loved ones will survive the journey to another city for emergency care. They deserve better than duct tape.
And let’s not forget our medical professionals, because they deserve better, too. They deserve better than being u
nder-resourced, they deserve better than being burned out, and they deserve better than being constantly ignored by their government.
This situation is in no way isolated to Chinook Regional Hospital or the City of Lethbridge. All across this province there is clear evidence of a crumbling healthcare system.
A recent study showed that more than 60 per cent of family doctors are considering leaving Alberta due to their practice not being financially sustainable. At the same time, more than 800,000 Albertans do not have a family physician.
The UCP’s vision for Alberta’s future seems mired in maintaining the status quo — a status quo that is untenable for our healthcare system and detrimental to the well-being of Albertans.
Serious investment in our healthcare system is not an option, it is a necessity, and if that is not reflected in the upcoming budget, it will represent a monumental failure by this government.
Simply put, the current budget allocations are failing to meet the basic needs of Albertans, and that needs to change.
In order to sustain the current trajectory, we would require a minimum of a five percent increase in the budget.
But no one wants to sustain the current trajectory — not the physicians struggling to keep their practices afloat, not the nurses facing slashed overtime, not the 800,000
Albertans without a family doctor, and certainly not the residents of Lethbridge losing access to surgeries and care.
We need urgent intervention through a budget that prioritizes the needs of everyday Albertans. We need a budget that prioritizes the recruitment and retention of medical professionals. We need a budget that works with frontline staff and not against them. We need a budget that supports healthcare in rural communities.
But it doesn’t stop at the budget, because a budget is just numbers and words on a page; it’s a promise, and this government has a long history of broken promises.
Just this week the Premier paid for air time on TV to tell you she won’t be delivering on the key promise the UCP made in the election: a personal tax cut. She also made it clear that her government is fine with the chaos in public services.
Instead of taking meaningful action, the UCP will just sit back and hope for the best.
I am keen to hear from you about the Budget and what is missing from it. Please call 403-329- 4644 or email Lethbridge.West@assembly.ab.ca.