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By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

ALBERTA HEALTH CARE

Medicine Hat doctor says input from frontline workers is crucial for Alberta’s new health care system

Nov 10, 2023 | 3:48 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It’s crucial the Alberta government gets input from the physicians and nurses that make up the health care system’s frontline workers as restructuring gets underway, emergency physician Dr. Paul Parks told CHAT News on Friday.

Alberta is gradually revamping provincial health care through the creation of four new agencies tasked with varying aspects of the system, Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative government announced earlier this week.

READ MORE: How will Alberta’s new health care system work?

“This must have the input, at a very high level…from physicians so that we can make sure that this will be a functional system for patients,” said Parks, who serves as the Alberta Medical Association’s president.

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“Because I’ll tell you, the common thread patients are the common thread in all four of those organizations, but so are physicians.”

READ MORE: Alberta revamps health care system, creates separate units

The government started running town halls with Alberta Health Services workers this week and engagement efforts with Albertans will kick off in early December. Province-wide workforce engagement will begin mid-January, the government said.

Dr. Paul Parks (CHAT News)

The Opposition New Democrats said Friday the health care plan won’t help those looking for a family physician.

“Danielle Smith doesn’t seem to care about the basic problem in Alberta which is a catastrophic shortage of frontline workers,” MLA and NDP health critic David Shepherd said.

“Instead of investing in patient care, the UCP is embarking on a massive expansion of government bureaucracy. Over the next two years, they plan to establish 14 brand-new government agencies, boards, councils, centres and secretariats.

“None of this is going to make decision-making faster or closer to home. Instead it’s going to create chaos in our clinics and hospitals. The UCP plan is going to make health care harder to find, and slower to get.”

The big overhaul will not impact how an average Albertan will access health care, officials insisted when the revamp was announced.

The four new organizations will be mandated to enhance local decision-making, officials said.

The new structure will include 13 advisory councils — including one Indigenous council — that will represent regional perspectives and advise the new units.

Key to the new format will be the system’s integration council. It will be led by the health minister and include participation from across the structure as it focuses on supporting the health care workforce.

Smith’s government said the new structure will allow the system to be more responsive to patient needs, support local decision-making and regional advice, relieve those working in acute care through the specialized units and better leverage the experience of employees.