Albertans questioning health-care overhaul as surgery waitlists grow

Patients and doctors are sounding the alarm over Alberta’s painfully long surgery waitlist, and what they say is little reason for optimism.

Some Albertans are questioning the provincial government’s commitment to a health-care overhaul as thousands of patients wait for long-delayed surgeries.

As of November, 80,000 people were waiting for a procedure – up more than 3,000 people in the last 12 months.

And despite campaign promises to speed up the process, the UCP government hasn’t made a significant dent in the number of surgeries completed in Canada’s “target time.”

In fact, many say their years-long waits aren’t worth the trouble and are heading to other provinces or dishing out for pricey private procedures.

“People are dying, people are in pain, people are waiting and it’s wrong, but (the UCP government is) doing nothing to make it better,” Alberta NDP Health Critic Sarah Hoffman said.

“They care more about their budget than they do about alleviating people’s pain.”

The NDP — along with the Alberta Medical Association — have chalked up the problems to a lack of spaces and a workforce leaving the public system for a private one with more stable hours and better pay.

Hoffman claims many Albertans are dying while they wait for a public procedure — but that claim can’t be verified, as the province doesn’t track the data.

‘Beyond the spreadsheets’

Some believe the province is intentionally cutting costs to the public model in an effort to save money and prop up a private system.

It’s a claim Alberta’s Health Ministry denies — though Minister Adriana Lagrange wouldn’t do an interview with CTV News.

A ministry spokesperson says, “Capital projects, new programs and a refocused health-care system will help ensure Albertans get the surgical care they need faster and more efficiently.”

The province says it completed 3.4 per cent more surgeries in the last fiscal year than the year before, but that’s still outpaced by 3.9 per cent population growth.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons says it’ll believe that things are improving when it gets fewer complaints from its Albertan members.

“We are asking the minister to look beyond the spreadsheets and the stats and consider each one of those persons on the waitlist as an individual,” representative Anthony Quinn said.

“Those who are on the wrong side of those prescribed wait times are really suffering.”

Quinn says if the province wants to overhaul the health system, cutting down wait times is a good place to start.