CALGARY (Times Bureau) Nearly 200 emergency room doctors are raising the alarm about the dangerous crisis in Alberta hospitals, proving that Danielle Smith’s claim to have addressed the problem is a lie.
“Doctors, nurses, paramedics, health care aides, and many other frontline professionals have been telling me the exact same thing,” said David Shepherd, Alberta NDP Health Critic and candidate for Edmonton-City Centre. “Danielle Smith and the UCP created a massive crisis in Alberta healthcare and then lied about fixing it. They simply cannot be trusted to repair it.”
“Our emergency departments are collapsing and frontline healthcare workers have truly had enough,” wrote 190 ER doctors in an open letter today. “We cannot bear to watch our patients suffer any longer with no end in sight.
The doctors place the blame on the UCP government for destabilizing primary care. Over the past four years, the UCP has pursued a war on doctors that included tearing up their contract and harassing them online in and in person. Family doctors, particularly in rural areas, bore the brunt of the UCP’s hostility. The ER doctors also cite a lack of beds and a severe shortage of staff as other key factors.
“Signs of a capacity crisis are everywhere,” the doctors write. “The wait time in Calgary’s Emergency Departments has skyrocketed, with patients sometimes waiting up to 15 hours to be seen by a doctor. These patients often become sicker while waiting. We worry about these patients every shift.
“It is now common to have 40-50 people waiting to be seen by a doctor at any given time in any of our emergency waiting rooms. Frail, elderly patients languish on stretchers in hospital hallways. Patients with mental health crises are housed in the emergency room, often for several days, while awaiting inpatient beds.”
Last night, AHS reported 14-hour wait times at the South Health Campus ER in Calgary, 12-hour wait times at Alberta Children’s Hospital, and 10-hour waits at Red Deer Regional Hospital.
“A 14-hour wait to get emergency medical attention is not normal and it’s not OK,” Shepherd said. “We need a government that recognizes that there’s a serious problem here. I’m very proud of our Alberta NDP plan to connect every Albertan with a family doctor and take the pressure off our ERs, ambulances, and surgical teams.
“With Rachel Notley as Premier, you will get the care you need, when you need it, close to home,” Shepherd said.
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