EDMONTON, AB: The latest data from Alberta Health Services (AHS) for the first quarter of 2017-18 shows that under the NDP, the health-care system is failing everyday Albertans, and calls into question the Health Minister’s command of the file.
Some of the key results in the AHS Q1 performance report, quarterly monitoring measures, and ER wait times, show:
- 18 per cent of Alberta’s hospital beds occupied by patients waiting for continuing care beds, the highest-ever level recorded in the province, and in the North Zone it’s even worse at 28 per cent;
- A shocking week and a half rise in the length of time Albertans wait for a continuing care bed, and;
- Only 65 per cent of children getting mental health services within 30 days, the worst ever results compiled by the province. In Edmonton, only 19 per cent of child patients met the target, again a worst ever record in any zone.
Key Surgical Wait Times have also greatly increased under the NDP, including:
- A wait of over nine months for cataract surgery in Q1, the longest wait in at least 3 years, and 2 weeks longer than a year earlier;
- A three months wait for open heart surgery, almost five weeks longer than in 2016;
- A wait of almost nine months for a hip replacement, a whole month longer than in 2016, , and;
- Albertans waiting ten months for a knee replacement, again another whole month longer than in 2016.
“Sadly, our current system is failing Albertans, and is not getting people the care they deserve when they need it the most,” United Conservative Party Interim Leader Nathan Cooper said. “I am deeply concerned that Albertans pay 20 per cent more for health care than our neighbours in British Columbia, only to see such deteriorating results under this NDP government. As Health Minister Sarah Hoffman prepares to host Canada’s health ministers, she has to answer for her government’s worsening record on health care.”
United Conservative Party Health Critic Tany Yao said that our health care system is failing Albertans not just in major cities, but across the entire province, and more needs to be done by the Health Minister to reduce wait times, and get Albertans to the level of care they need in an efficient manner.
“It’s incredibly wasteful and inefficient to have Albertans stuck in hospital beds while they wait for the appropriate care,” Yao said. “This data must be a wakeup call for the Minister that our system isn’t working, and the solution isn’t just throwing money at a problem. We need to find ways to streamline our system, reduce bureaucracy, and get Albertans the care they deserve.”