'physicians are distressed': edmonton doctors demand ucp action as health-system strain takes a toll
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the misericordia community hospital emergency room.
david bloom
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postmedia, file
a group of edmonton-area doctors says the provincial government is failing to address an ongoing health-care crisis, and conditions in hospitals and emergency rooms are increasingly unsafe.
the edmonton zone medical staff association (ezmsa) issued a public letter this week urging albertans to demand action to fix a health system they said is “nearing collapse.”
the advocacy group said health workers have been stretched beyond their capacity for years as the covid-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge. but the letter says temporary changes have become “inappropriate long-term solutions” that are taking a toll.
“we are burned out, running on fumes, and being asked to perform to superhuman levels for the sake of patients,” states the letter, signed by ezmsa president dr. katherine kasha.
“physicians are distressed, knowing that patients are often receiving substandard care despite our best efforts.”
kasha, a family physician, said in an interview thursday that solving the problems comes down to “system change — that’s it, that’s all.”
she said ezmsa wants to see a “workforce plan” from the province to make sure doctors and nurses that are still here don’t give up.
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“this is past yoga and pizza,” she said. “if you don’t see things changing, if you don’t hope that things are actually going to get better, that you’re going to be more supported, that your patients are going to be more supported, what happens is you get to a certain point and you say, ‘i’m out.'”
a statement from alberta health services acknowledged the “significant strain” health workers have endured for years. but the health authority said there has been some progress in shoring up resources, with 780 more staff in emergency departments compared to 2018 and 1,600 more nurses working for ahs now than in 2019.
“we are working to provide supports and ensure that teams and individuals are supported and have the resources they need to provide quality care. we continue to aggressively recruit physicians, nurses and paramedics and we are seeing some success.”
according to ahs, occupancy at alberta’s major urban hospitals has been at or above 100 per cent over the past week.
health minister jason copping speaks at a media event discussing how the alberta government is addressing rural physician shortages at foothills medical centre in calgary on thursday, jan. 26, 2023. azin ghaffari/postmedia
azin ghaffari
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azin ghaffari/postmedia
copping says ‘more is coming’ on health funding announcements
the province is currently pursuing a series of health-system reforms with dr. john cowell as the official administrator of alberta health services. he returned to the role last november when the ucp government under premier danielle smith’s leadership removed the ahs board and tasked cowell with making swift improvements in key areas like emergency room wait times and surgery wait lists.
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health minister jason copping spoke at an event thursday rolling out funding to “explore” expanding post-secondary physician training to lethbridge and grande prairie in the hopes of recruiting more doctors to underserved rural areas of the province.
he said there’s significant work underway, from thursday’s announcement to other recent moves like contracting out orthopedic surgeries to charter facilities and funding an edmonton complex where homeless patients discharged from emergency rooms can recover and find permanent housing.
copping added “more is coming” in the upcoming budget, expected at the end of february. he said the work being done to build capacity in the health system is also aimed at addressing health-care worker burnout.
“we are hiring, and we do have more people than we’ve had in our emergency departments, but we know we need more. that’s why a health human resource plan is critically important,” he said.
kasha said she remains concerned about patient safety potentially being compromised by the ongoing issues in the health=care system, and she wants to see specifics on how some of the goals handed to cowell will actually be achieved.
“i don’t want people to accept that the current level of care is ok. it’s not,” she said.
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“your doctors don’t think it’s ok. your doctors are getting less and less ok themselves.”
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