No answer to our SOS

Dear Members,

Two fall 2023 stabilization proposals – and months of advocacy – were an SOS call to the Government of Alberta from Alberta’s physicians. I’m sorry to say that there has been no answer. I have repeatedly asked you to be patient as we waited for meaningful action to address our concerns. I am not giving up, but I know that not everyone can afford to hold on indefinitely.

Our solutions to stabilize primary and acute care were offered because family, rural generalist and acute care physicians had seen their practices disrupted, their services destabilized, and suffered themselves from burnout. Since then, 81% of Alberta physicians report that the health care system is getting worse while 79% say support to physicians for providing care has also deteriorated.

We appreciate that federal funds for primary care practice stabilization were made available as a down payment, but we have not seen the long-term investment by our own province as they committed to do in the context of Budget 2024.

We still do not know when the new Physician Comprehensive Care Model will move forward, meaning no end in sight to the exodus of family physicians from both comprehensive care and the province. There is no imminent help to keep rural generalist physicians in their clinics – not to mention the rural hospitals that utterly depend on their presence to run emergency departments. Meanwhile, acute care, gutted by the pandemic, has been overwhelmed by increased illness and complex disease in patients. Cancer care wait times are skyrocketing and patients are suffering. Our colleagues have continually been told to do more with less and just make it work.

Government proudly reports a surplus budget and is socking away funds for some unknown future date. Instead of investing today to keep people healthy tomorrow, they are choosing to send Albertans for the most expensive care in overflowing emergency departments and hospitals, to which many will simply return in a worsening spiral because there is no one to care for them in the community. It appears that our government is committed to spending more on consultants and on the dismantling of the existing health care system, than on directing desperately needed funding to the front lines.

Burgeoning numbers of orphaned patients, workforce shortages in acute care, surgical diversions, wait times for cancer care and other dangerous deficiencies increase daily. Rural emergency departments are closing at an astounding pace, and our larger EDs are dangerously unsafe due to overcrowding and Access Block. Service disruptions are an ever-growing necessity and will only get worse.

The MAPS report and Statistics Canada’s ‘Canadian Community Health Survey’ estimate that 600,000 - 750,000 Albertans do not have a regular health care provider.  Add to that 204,000 new Albertans arriving last year and we are facing a potential 800,000 – 950,000 patients lacking basic primary care. While AB has experienced some physician growth, we are starting from a deficit position having lost 2,471 physicians in the last five years. Yet government’s health care budget fails to account even for population growth, let alone inflation, technology, aging or increased patient complexity. It is increasingly apparent that funding has not kept pace with Albertans’ evolving needs.

You have patients to care for. If you feel that you need to advocate for what your patients need from their health care system, that is your professional right and responsibility. We will avidly continue to do so ourselves. We understand if you have to terminate business arrangements or exit your current practice or the programs you support because you can no longer provide the care you were trained to provide. Physicians are continuously asked to extend further and give more of themselves to care for patients, but there comes a point where this is no longer safe or possible. If you have to make difficult choices to protect your patients, your team or yourself from harm, this is not only acceptable, but has likely been long overdue. By protecting yourself from burnout you will ultimately be serving your patients better for the long run. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that this is a marathon and not a sprint. Watch for a new tool that we will make available soon for physicians to register your practice changes so that we can monitor and report them.

We will continue to advocate for physicians, patients and the health care system, but it is becoming evident that the system will not hold without immediate government action. Government says that they share our concerns, but without immediate action on key components, I am extremely concerned that they do not understand our dire sense of urgency.

Speaking of going the extra mile, thanks to those who will work this long weekend so colleagues can have much needed breaks. May Albertans be safe, on lakes and at barbeques, and not in our emergency department hallways.

Regards,

Paul Parks
President, Alberta Medical Association