“Being a generally down the middle person when it comes to politics, I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail”. And that’s why we are in this situation. I’m an ER nurse and daily I have patients say to me “I heard healthcare was bad, but I didn’t realize it was this bad”. Because so many people don’t pay attention until they need it.
We (HCWs) have been very very very vocal about the collapse of healthcare. Nothing is being done and it’s too late to fix it. Anything done today (which nothing is being done fyi) we won’t see the effects for 5-10years. It’s going to get a lot worst before it gets better.
You think that was common knowledge, but unfortunately I have to explain it many times to my patients and their families. So many people thing that D Smith is “restructuring AHS” will make things better- they don’t believe me when I tell them that absolutely nothing is being done to help the 10+ hour wait times.
It's kind of amazing too that she's already taken a victory lap on two different occasions on the subject.
That's unfortunately what we have - one party trying to do something (whether people agree or not, despite the electorate being largely uninformed), or the most expensive 7th grade theater performance setting us back decades.
You are thinking they have a plan. They do not.
The UCP is a business party. They see themselves as the bosses, and they want the power that authoritarian bosses have. Therefore, any threat to that complete arbitrary power, as represented by skilled labour such as doctors and nurses, and God forbid unionized labour in any form is a threat to them. And as all power-hungry bosses do, they would rather burn down the house with everyone inside than admit they are greedy, self-centered and wrong.
Look at our wage laws, labour laws, temporary worker laws and even workers compensation laws and you see that the UCP won't be happy unless we are returned to the glory days of the early Industrial Revolution where a worker can be fired for accidentally stopping production by getting a leg caught in the gears. They look at the poor as a burden best handled by charity and the working class as only a maker of profit for the upper class. Go to any UCP constituency meeting and you will see the same people as found in a chamber of commerce meeting. Go to any UCP fundraising golf tourney and watch them all scrambling for the tax receipt. This is still Klein's Alberta, giving millions to Spruce Meadows and Horse Racing Alberta while resentfully throwing money on the floor of a homeless shelter to watch the masses scurry for coins.
When the UCP came to power, we had a Health Minister who owns, with his wife, a company that sells private health insurance. Smith wrote a paper a few years ago which stated that she thought that the cost of healthcare shouldn't come from the government, but from employee health benefits. The UCP tore up a contract with doctors, fought nurses during contract negotiations, and wanted to give them a *retroactive* rollback in wages. They vilified doctors and nurses during the pandemic, and told Albertans that our doctors and nurses were greedy.
They privatized labs, and turned over all Lab work over to Dynalife. After Albertans complained of waiting weeks to get blood work done, the government then pulled out of the Dynalife agreement, at a cost of $31.5M, with assumed liabilities costing taxpayers another $65.5M. Kenney introduced "Alberta's Surgical Initiative' in 2019, which diverted surgeries away from public hospitals to private facilities. In 2022, the UCP upped the percentage of surgeries moved to private clinics from 15% to 30%.
More and more medical clinics are charging patients monthly or yearly membership fees if they want to remain being a patient of their doctor. And this nightmare happened a few weeks ago, and it's unlikely this is the first case to 'slip through the cracks' as the UCP gave as an excuse: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/royal-alexandra-hospital-hotel-transfer-stroke-patient-1.7145856
They aren't mindlessly copying Republicans, they have been planning this before they took power, and they are pushing unwanted and unasked-for changes on Albertans over and over.
Is Alberta only supposed to address our healthcare issues when we're absolutely at the bottom of the barrel compared to other provinces? Other provinces may not be doing well, but at least their governments aren't actively trying to sabotage their healthcare systems.
And if things are better in Alberta, then why are [39% of our doctors](https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/ama-alberta-family-physicians-considering-leaving-health-care-system#:~:text=Inflation%20and%20soaring%20overheads%20have,Paul%20Parks.) are considering leaving Alberta to work in a different province or country, after many have already closed their practices or moved out of province?
This is the answer, and it blows my mind that there's even a single human being in the province that doesn't understand this.
It's not "government failure/inefficiency/wtv", it's active sabotage by the conservatives.
I agree it’s mostly active sabotage by the provincial government. I’m totally aware of that and it makes me so angry.
The problem that muddys the waters is we are seeing a healthcare crisis across all provinces, it’s not unique to a conservative government. But, the Alberta government sure is hell bent to make it worse so they can privatize.
I mean, I’d add that we had 8 conservative premiers running the provinces up until very recently (Manitoba election).
The only solutions those premiers are putting forward is more privatization at 5x-6x the cost of public - all while existing public sector doctors say they have the capacity to take on more (this example is specific to chief surgeons operating more single day surgeries).
These governments don’t want to pay
Conservatives hate paying for “poor peoples healthcare” or poor people anything AND they can never raise taxes as it goes against their whole corporate favouritism ideology.
Instead we get gaslit by premiers like Ford who pocket federal funds to show a “surplus” all while healthcare collapses in real time around us.
The world is a disappointing and sick place
Why would Alberta health services want thing to go private?
Honestly Alberta health services is running the show not the government but they are doing sketchy things
Cons have chosen to steal taxpayer money, give it to Big Pharma and kill their loyal subjects who voted for this. Privatized healthcare costs 2-3x MORE per person and the failed privatization attempts wasted billions in Ontario and Alberta alone. That could've paid for new hospitals...and more healthcare
Cons are the BEST at disappearing themselves. Their life expectancy is up to 14 years shorter than liberal areas. The less Con interference, the longer everyone lives. Technically Cons are sorting the issue out, by killing themselves.
Incredible.
Ya they also helped rogers buy shaw, eliminated telecom crown corps and have lobbyists on the board at Roblaws.
There's a billion Cons. One of the biggest is Lobbying against auto accident depreciation compensation. If your car isn't totalled, Cons legally allowed insurers to steal that depreciation. That's countless billions alone stolen from drivers over the last 100 years.
..Then Cons removed the auto insurance caps. The level of corruption is beyond comprehension. Cons are like cringe F tier supervillains who do evil for evils sake.
What does this have to do with "big pharma?" I hate this government as much as anyone else but it's not drug producers who stand to benefit from the collapse of our healthcare system.
This is absolutely true. I work for biotech. The one thing Canada has done right as that we’ve negotiated hard with pharmacy to try and keep prices down in this country. Not like America, where the sky is the limit and whoever dies, dies.
Ontario gets it! As you move West, the less you get, except for Manitoba who gets lots of things others don’t. The differences between provinces is astounding
Really? I haven't had a family doctor in almost three years. My husband for over 5. Every time I check Alberta's find a doctor website, it comes up empty for my region. Walk in clinics are so busy, most of them insist appointments must be made. And in April there were 20 instances of emergency departments having to close for hours or even days due to lack of adequate staff.
I’ve done the same and disagree.
But here are some resources for you, nothing you couldn’t find if you just googled it you know:
https://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/health-aspx/
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/healthiest-province-territory-canada-study-180020094.html
Did you actually read the article in the link? This is not specific to the healthcare system..this is an overall health index which is based of a number of factors. Show me the data on emergency room wait times, the state of hospitals in the province, cancelled surgeries and access to family doctors.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, also a nurse.
People just don’t give a shit until it impacts them directly then they go absolutely nuts. I dunno, maybe it’s just the human condition.
And folks will wax poetic in these little silos but come voting time it will be the same clowns voted in because they promise some sort of tax break or benefit. Bread and circus.
But if we did something about it, then healthcare wouldn't collapse and the state wouldn't be able to sell off assets for private for-profit hospitals the friends of premiers / Galon Westons and Kevin O'Leary's of Canada etc are probably just itching at the chance to buy up and gouge us through the noses on like everything else in the country
$10 says, watch Ontario health privatize and all the fastest top investors tied to the Ford government no different than greenbelt sales are going down on.
$10 also says we immediately see an America style price system that creates the illusion of a working healthcare system because people just literally don't access it unless they can afford it or until they absolutely have to then come away with 30k in debt for an overnight in the hospital lol
Exactly. The 35% raise UNA came in with isn't totally unreasonable like the UCP chuds claim it is. There has been a mass hemorrhage of healthcare workers, and if the employer doesn't give some major concessions, it'll only get worse.
I've worked in most provinces over the last few years and it's the same in every one of them. Not dismissing what's happening here. Just telling you what I see.
Since B.C. introduced its new Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) model last year, the province has had more than a 20 per cent increase in family doctors starting practices, amounting to nearly 700 doctors.
At least one province seems to be heading in the right direction
Health care is totally a provincial responsibility. The PCs and UCPs have had almost fifty years to get it straight. I know because I am an older guy, and I have watched it decline steadily.
You can’t just pull the classic “stick it to the cons” on this topic. BC and Newfoundland are the worst when it comes to healthcare, and they are NDP and liberal, respectively.
Quebec has also been notoriously bad as well when it comes to Healtchare
What are some examples that you have that BC and Newfoundland are worse off than Alberta? I’m curious as I have family in both provinces and they all have GPs, and never seem to have to wait for anything else?
Idk about you m8 but I'm no anti vaxxer and conspiracy theorist! 🤷🏼♀️
Also I have merit and factual information on my side when it comes to politics, you just have dogwhistling and gaslighting!
Speaking of which, where is your sources on your claims that bc is the worst when it comes to healthcare?
Care to provide them since you have made such claims or are you gonna tell me to "search it up myself" when you have been called out? 🤦🏼♀️
Please show me your “merit” outside of virtue signalling reddit Karma. I linked an article with a data graph from statcan in response to one of the comments.
Unlike you, I’ve got an on call job that isn’t “chronically online girl” so I’m sorry for the late response.
You’ve clearly got enough time on your hands to to find where my comment with the link is
For hip replacements, BC has faster treatment times, compared to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, and Newfoundland. https://www.cihi.ca/en/explore-wait-times-for-priority-procedures-across-canada
The [graph](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7089196) in this article is from statcan and shows which provinces have the highest access to primary care providers for people over 12.
I don’t have any personal examples for Newfoundland, but do for BC as I grew up and lived there up until about a year and a half ago. I never had a GP after I graduated university 6 years ago, and got dropped by my original family Dr back home as I was seeing a physician at the UVic Clinic.
I also had a recent experience at Richmond General in BC where I waited 8 hours in the ER after being taken there by an ambulance (not my decision, my friend called it for me) and I ended up just leaving. The nurse said that the triage times alone were about 3-4 hours long, and an elderly man next to me with a dislocated shoulder had been waiting just a little less longer than me
Edit: I still haven’t gotten a GP in Calgary yet which is to be expected cause I’m new here, but I’m able to get regular/frequent appointments at a primary care clinic here. I was still on the wait list for the one in Victoria
Ah yes, all the cuts to healthcare, the unilateral decision to cut doctor’s pay, and bumping up pay for nurse practitioners who run their own practice isn’t the conservative’s fault at all. Please tell me more. Oh, right. I’m sure the large influx of people to Alberta funded by the UCP through ads, and a moving bonus, will help solve the problem, despite us clearly not having the infrastructure to support everyone. Gotta love how the conservative party spends our tax $$. Might I add taking resources away from public healthcare by paying for private practices? Pushing for privatization also draws staff away from public healthcare, too, but please, tell me how it isn’t the conservative’s fault by pointing at other provinces and bringing up whataboutisms.
> BC and Newfoundland are the worst when it comes to healthcare, and they are NDP and liberal, respectively.
Great. Still a provincial responsibility to manage their healthcare. Those provinces, just like Alberta, have failed to manage it.
Yes you can?
In MB literally anytime Unions won, the government cut rural care centers and centralized more in places like Winnipeg / Brandon etc as a means of punishing labor - oh, certainly ostensibly it was 'more wages means we can't afford care in these other communities and must centralize' but really it was about retaining the same budget and just stretching it thinner rather than consistently delivering the increases we ought to have been putting into healthcare the last 30+ yrs in the first place.
@jocu11 my friend, let me explain something to you, please. The purpose of this subreddit is to criticize conservatives and conservative ideas.
Asking questions like "Where is it better?" or "What model should we follow, that is working better?" will just get you inarticulate screaming and downvotes.
The Conservative are mean. They make healthcare, homelessness and the drug crisis worse, intentionally. The NDP will fix it all, at great cost, but it will totally be worth it!!
If you point out that BC has had almost as many Leftist governments as Alberta has had Conservative, but homelessness, healthcare and the drug crisis are at least as bad there, you'll just get screamed at.
Dude you aren’t allowed to mention that the NDP are outsourcing to private healthcare in the US a few years after they shutdown local private healthcare saying the public system will be fine. Nor can you mention that BC has the longest wait times in the country.
Don’t you know conservative bad NDP good?
This type of conversation is the kind of distraction that keeps us from working together towards a common goal and politicians LOVE it!
Cons are in power now, meaning they’re responsible for our healthcare and I’m fairly certain everyone in this thread knows it’s falling to shit.
If we met in the middle despite our ideologies, we could make them change that course. Can you imagine Left and Right protesting together?
They would shit their pants!
—
I am curious about your comment about the Alberta NDP outsourcing private healthcare as I can’t find any information on it.
Can you provide a source please?
I meant the BC NDP though they are one big party so it’s the Albertan NDP too
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HLTH0065-000740
That being said yep! This is a problem across the country for all parties. No one wants to touch the hot potato they just pass it on.
The solution which is to increase slots for doctors to do their training/school, to lock them to contracts in Canada to prevent brain drain, and to reduce their pay to be in line with similar European nations is quite unpopular. We pay quite a bit more than Britain, Germany, France, etc does for doctors.
“In Foundation training, you will earn a basic salary of £32,398 to £37,303 (from 1 April 2023).
If you’re a doctor starting your specialist training in 2023 your basic salary will be £43,923 to £63,152.
Specialty doctors and specialist payscale
If you’re working as a specialty doctor you’ll earn a basic salary of £52,530 to £82,400. If you are a specialist grade doctor you'll earn a basic salary of £83,945 to £92,275.”
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors/pay-doctors#:~:text=If%20you're%20working%20as,%C2%A383%2C945%20to%20%C2%A392%2C275.
100 pounds=171 cad btw. So basically doctors there make $100k before specializing and max out at $160k
Offer free medical school if students agree to only work in Canada and have them repay the loan if they move.
Ahhh, I see now. Sorry I misunderstood and thanks for the link.
That is wild to see any NDP party push for privatized healthcare, completely against their values imho.
And you’re right, it’s gotten so bad that digging into it is political suicide and costs an election. So we have a boat that’s so big, it can’t adapt.
Awesome!
EDIT: Agree with your solution. I understand why they would open the door for Cancer patients to seek support but that solution needs to be a stop gap with a solution in place.
Hahah yeah they get away with it because conservatives bad but left wing partycan do no wrong 😂
Same thing when Ford cancelled sustainable energy projects it was bad but when NDP did it it’s good.
The fact is Canada is hooped and no one wants to fix the system. I don’t pretend the conservatives are good I just think they will stop making it worse. Our income taxes are higher than China a giant government control+military country. Where is the money going!? We literally have enough government money that we could conquer Russia.
Become more active in politics or suffer the consequences of those who vote for you.
The UCP is doing everything possible to make it as difficult as possible for Alberta’s to receive the care they need. That way they can point the finger and public healthcare and say “See!! Private Doctors you can pay to see immediately is the solution.”
>I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail going on
Some ancient wisdom for you:
>"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
> - Plato
1 year to get a CT scan for a possible brain tumour….. so I was forced to go private and pay out of pocket. I had to borrow money. Figured if it was cancer I’d be dead in a year.
My throat clicks when I swallow and I feel a lump in it and AHS legit denied me access to a CT my doc ordered because it wasn’t “financially justified”
The state of healthcare should be way more alarming to the general public than it is. Even trying to see a psychologist is almost a year wait right now. And the free, public ones are so fucking overloaded, how can one expect to do their job properly?
It’s abysmal.
I’m grateful to be seeing a psychologist who offers rates based on income, because I have been holding off and I have a lot of trauma to deal with that I’ve been I carrying around. It’s wild that there are so many private psychologists. It should be fully integrated into public healthcare. No one should have to wait or go broke getting psychological help. 😔
Was the biggest barrier for me, was rawdogging CPTSD and ADHD my entire life, then moved cities and had to do it all over again.
It definitely needs an overhaul. And I expect Smith and the UCP to underhaul it.
I’m torn.
Wednesday I messaged my cardiologist about some concerning symptoms. Friday I was booked for a PET scan - but now I’ve spent five days waiting for callback when the results were so concerning that both the attending doctor at the scan and my GP’s office spontaneously called to check on me.
It’s uneven as hell. I appreciate the staff doing their best under the increasingly shit conditions the UCP are deliberately delivering to eventually allow privatization to look like a good idea - while they and their cronies sit on the boards and take in the cash.
My Alberta health records will give you the results. Then copy and paste (without your personal info) into chat GPT to summarize in plain language what it means.
I did. It was helpful in one sense in that it did explain what was happening. It was not helpful in another sense that now I don’t know if I’m waiting for another prescription or a pacemaker. Or worse.
That’s a very stressful situation to be in for sure. I’m sorry you’re going through this. Keep calling the docs office. I find one needs to be very persistent these days…
Oh, I did that too. After the GP called to see if I was okay, based - and this is key - on the test results they saw. The GP suggested I call the cardiologist.
The cardiologist’s staff: your test results aren’t back yet.
Me: …yes they are. (They were back literally half an hour after I rocked out of the Walter Mackenzie.)
Them: oh. Well, he’ll call you.
Me: okay, can you give me a rough idea of when?
Them: no, I don’t like to give false hope.
It's people like you who are the problem. Living in ignorance until it affects you, then crying about it.
Also anyone who voted UCP just isn't allowed to complain, they never tried to hide what they wanted to do to Healthcare.
... 5 months is amazingly fast for psychiatry here. One of my health conditions is more than 13 months out on a referral- I don't know how much more because they cant tell me.
Thanks for telling that to someone who is severely depressed because of everything I have to deal with. With someone who is depressed, Five months seems like a freaking eternity, and then to have it cancelled and changed to another 5 months later especially when you have other healthcare situations that you’ve been waiting even longer for. I’m just talking psychiatry. I have multiple conditions that require specific specialists and I have waited and waited and waited for months if not years to get specialists I need. And I know for a fact, I’m not the only one the wait times in the healthcare system. It doesn’t matter anything mental should be dealt with as soon as possible not five months down the road because in five months that person who needed that psychiatrist could have unalived themselves by that time.
> unalived
If you are going to talk about serious issues like suicide use serious words. Suicide is not a bad word and the more openly we can discuss the issues around it the less taboo the topic is.
Understandable, in general most subreddits won’t ban you for using the word in appropriate contexts. I just want to encourage people to ditch the stigma behind mental health issues. It’s so important to talk about it openly with one another. <3
Edit: I’m sorry, it seems you may have changed your comment which makes my response seem a bit nonsensical. Originally the comment had read about concern of the subreddit rules? Frankly though I think of a concept triggers you you shouldn’t be exposing yourself to these comments and topics in general. It’s clearly not healthy!
My apologies I’ve been really testy lately with everything. I am so sick of people making generalized statements about people when they do not take the time to educate themselves.
Oh, also, that was for a psych related thing. Non specialist psych is over 9 months last time I tried. Ended up waiting 3 months for a 1 time "adjust shit" session by phone.
During 2021, my doctor was very blunt with me when I said I was dealing with severe depression and suicidal ideation. She could refer me to a psychiatrist and the wait, at best, would be 6 months or I could go to the hospital and check myself into the psych ward with the hopes of seeing one sooner. I took the hospital route and that was 2 days of nurses taking vitals with no updates before I could see someone.
As it is I’ve been referred to an autism specialized psychiatrist (unrelated to the depression/suicidal ideations) by both a psychologist and my doctor and I’ve been waiting a year or so. My doctor thinks both may have gotten lost or the specialist may have closed their practice without redirecting their referrals, she has no answers either.
Unfortunately the dr I need to see does not work in a hospital. He has his own office at the 108 street clinic. I need a specialist psychologist.because my issues I may not have been born with.
I’m actually thinking if I make it through this alive I might run for office. I know a thing or two about our Medicare system, and I know several places that need to be improved and even how to improve them in some cases. Hell, I’ve been homeless several times. Due to my ongoing health issues I was born with and others I was not.
It sure is. I found out about the possible issue 10 months ago. That’s when I started this journey. It has been excruciating I had been in therapy for ADHD however everything we’ve tried has not worked and I have an extremely complicated medical history. Waiting on an upcoming surgery, that was already delayed 2 month due to new medication concerns on the original surgery date.
So the anxiety from the switch ups and cancelations major surgeries and being on antibiotics for 7 months my body hates me right now. But hell. I’m still pushing forward.
Notley had the best resume for the job. She was a good premier. Smith ruined her political career then somehow came back and won. Like most Albertans I know so many conservative voters that’s vote hurts them. Unless you own an oil company or grocery monopoly you shouldn’t vote conservative. I know doctors, teachers, single parents, rcmp, farmers and nurses that voted UCP. The UCP’s tactics of keeping it’s base riled up to distract from their true agenda is working. I used to respect these people but the UCP brainwashing has made them unbearable. Rachel Notley’s NDP was the solution to much of Alberta’s needs. She stood up to the feds, she had Albertans best interest in mind. I wish she’d run as a conservative, they wouldn’t even remember.
I know many nurses who happily vote UCP ... almost every one I've ever known in the leduc, Camrose wetaskiwin area.... it was bad when Kenney was in.. and they happily voted for smith
>Being a generally down the middle person when it comes to politics, I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail going on with our governments but holy shit something needs to change.
Change starts with you. If you don't pay attention to politics, someone else will be making these decisions on your behalf.
Lots of people like to say that they don't care about politics, but then suddenly care when they need health care, or roads, or police, etc. You can either be part of the conversation and decisions (vote, talk to your elected representatives) or you can let other people make all the decisions for you.
Yes it has. You can thank decades of underfunding and recent uncertainty brought about by the current ruling party (kicked off by Tyler Shandro on a Doctor's driveway, if you want to dig).
Don't worry, we'll get private healthcare soon whether we want it or not. Then costs will skyrocket, healthcare will be slashed in favor of private insurance, and we can welcome the US model where at least the wealthy can get care.
Oh no, the consequences of Alberta's actions...
Hopefully the rural community will realize the mistakes in their ways and learn from this (who are we kidding though?)
See the biggest issue here is that people are always going to vote for whoever messes with the east, and damn the consequences. Even *if* voter apathy was not in the question, this province will still be in the doldrums due to the fact that every other jackass values 'rolling coal' and 'good christian values' over operational functionality. I would be willing to bet my bottom dollar that the majority of the voting population int his hellhole is voting for spite rather than actually doing any research.
I am sitting in a doctors office right now. I'm here for a meet and greet to get a new family doctor. My appointment was over an hour ago and I'm still waiting... I would have left already but we don't have much for options for family doctors. This clinic has us by the proverbial balls and they know it.
See I always try to space out my appointments at a reasonable interval so that I can spend enough time with each patient and not fall too far behind (I still end up staying till 9 PM finishing up paperwork on a clinic day). But I get criticized for being “slow” and told that I will never generate enough patient flow at the rate I’m going. Meanwhile, the doctors who double and triple book their patients and regularly leave them waiting for hours at a time are lauded as “efficient”, and I am told that I will eventually become like them once I am “more experienced”.
Yeah. It doesn't exist or matter until you need it. Fuck everyone else.
All it takes for evil to conquer is for good men to do nothing. (Or some such "liberal bullshit").
Your side of politics is irrelevant, the province has been under investing in healthcare for years and the federal is mass immigrating more than we can sustain.
This is intentional by Danielle Smith.
You vandalize functioning public services. You then claim that government is incapable of running those services. You then sell off those services to private companies who jack up the price of everything.
Danielle Smith will not have to sell a single asset of our Healthcare system. She is going to thoroughly salt the Earth around her, and force the NDP who will come next.
To the morons coming in this thread and braying about how it sucks everywhere in Canada and saying stuff like 'you can't blame the conservatives for everything'...
Here's the problem with that reasoning. This slow, deliberate dismantling of our public health care system has been in the making for decades at this point, and it was started with the conservative notion that taxes are theft, which infected both the conservative and liberal parties at the time.
Because we were sold on taxes being a bane on our existence, we accepted the mantra, Hook Line and Sinker.
In order to fund those tax cuts that we're so enamored with, they had to cut services. At the time, we didn't care, nor could we foresee the long-term losses, the social contract between citizens and residents vis-à-vis our governments.
We are to blame for this current predicament. People like Danielle Smith don't come out of nowhere. They were born and raised among Us, and they are a reflection of what we think we want.
So now it's time to change.
This is so frustrating.
If you believe that private healthcare is the better option, then get your arguments together, present your case and get buy-in.
If you have to actively undermine the system in place to create false pretences to justify introducing an unpopular system, then you’re not really trying to ensure people are cared for.
Shouldn’t that kind of be a key tenant of governing in a democracy? Serving the public? Caring for people and their well-being?
I had crippling abdominal pains last week. Went into emergency and got in within half an hour. Blood tests and painkillers within an hour. Apparently I had a bad case of pancreatitis, could have been fatal. They kept me on IV for 2 days and supplied painkillers and sleeping mess when I needed. CaT scan, ultra sound, meds, and everything. Not a dime. What would that have costed in the states for most people? 20k? I can't imagine complaining about free Healthcare. (I'm in GP btw)
“I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail going on with our government…” my friend, I hope this experience with what the UCP call our “robust” healthcare system, you pay closer attention to what the government is doing. They are currently spending MILLIONS dismantling AHS, the AHS that they spend MILLIONS forming.
Sorry man, ‘down the middle of the road’ folks are why we are here. People who haven’t paid attention to what the UCP/insertnextcontitlehere have been telling us what they have been wanting to do are the reason they kept getting voted in (as the majority).
That’s what happens when you underfund the system for well over a decade while also experiencing record population growth. We need multiple new hospitals built, a massive training drive, and a raise in wages and incentives to attract more people in healthcare.
Rural towns keep voting conservative and here we are. Spread the word to your rural friends and family - the UCP is doing this to you, and they are doing it on purpose.
The rural areas continue to support Conservatives in spite of the negative outcomes because they don’t need doctors, nurses, or hospitals…until they do and the services aren’t there anymore. Then they’ll blame the cities for hogging all the healthcare workers and money for hospitals because the cities skew towards the NDP politically. They won’t vote for better healthcare because then they’ll be scared that they’ll have to pay more taxes and no government should ever have tax dollars to spend on anything except for subsidies to oil & gas.
is this not what rural Alberta wanted? i remember election time they was hating on NDP and said that UCP would never abandon them, and Danielle smith should run as prime minister
These failures didn't happen over night.
It's the result of decades of (deliberate) mismanagement.
It's happening in Ontario too, where Ford (another conservative) [first violated the charter to try and keep doctors and nurses underpaid.](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bill-124-appeal-court-ruling-ontario-1.7112291?trk=public_post_comment-text)
[He also deliberately unfunded](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/03/08/ontario-health-care-spending-doug-ford-hospitals-long-term-care/) the system, and deliberately [pays more ](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-hospital-nurses-private-staffing-agencies-auditor-1.7050828?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar)to the private systems than the public ones.
[Many have noticed this.](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/02/21/2833007/0/en/MEDIA-RELEASE-The-Ford-government-is-starving-local-public-hospitals-to-privatize-them-charge-health-advocates.html)
Provinces are the most important part of the healthcare formula. But it doesn't end there.
Our last PM was the former president of the NCC (National Citizens Coalition). An organization of insurance companies founded deliberately to [destroy public healthcare in canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Citizens_Coalition).
---
Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, there is no 'quick fix'.
Any solution any one puts in place will take time to manifest. Likely >5 years (so no single term party can do it).
Much of the solution is going to be "stop voting for people who are deliberately trying to destroy the system".
But that latter point is hard to get across to people like you.
And i don't say that to be mean or disrespectful ("people like you" just sounds rude to me).
But if you're not paying attention to "every little detail" and honestly think "middle of the road" is what's best, then you are tacitly supporting this kind of thing.
Even though you likely aren't aware of it.
It's why people say voting for conservatives (if you're not a millionaire, or more likely these days, 10+ millionaire) is voting against your best interests.
I needed an appointment with my doctor for a prescription refill. I called last week and the earliest I could get in was July. Luckily there’s a locum at the clinic who I could see today, since my prescription will run out long before July…. Guess I might as well book my next appointment now for when I need my prescription refilled next but it’s frustrating since I used to be able to get an appointment in 2 weeks or less with my previous family doc.
My doctor threw in the towel 3 years ago, I've had to use Telus Health for any issues and prescription refills. Even then, sometimes it can take a week to get 'in.'
UCP's neo-liberal agenda planned this, they create the issues in the system and then point fingers saying hey look this is why the system is broken and a lessaifaire model would be better.
I work as a scheduler in Pediatrics and I get at least 1 to 5 phone class a day from parents asking when they child are going to be seen. The wait times for specialists are over a year AT LEAST. Some of them call looking for someone to blame, others call crying, most of them are at their wit’s ends. Honestly, so am I. There’s not enough rooms, staff or doctors compared to the demand there is for appointments.
They are going to run this health care system to the ground, so privatization is the only option that makes sense.
Yup. Thank the lord I got on meds before the this… now I can only get in for a prescription… I really wish I could just get it from the pharmacy instead of taking a min appointment from someone one but nope. Have to sit there for two hours for an appointment to get it even though they say nothing to me other than how are you feeling and writing it to me. Then another hour at the pharmacy.
That’s crazy. My family doctor is kinda useless but i nagged him to send me to a specialist. He instead sent me for a very uncomfortable procedure with the specialist. I got to see what my bladder looks like before I was able to explain my new doctor took me off testosterone replacement and I had urinary issues since. I just call the urologist and leave a message, his nurse texts me then sends blood work request and my refill. The pharmacy could refill, trt is something I will be on the rest of my life. The tests they take are every 5 months (after 2 refills) but every year would be fine. Kenney is the reason my original doctor of 20 years left the province. There’s so much unneeded gate keeping in health care. Recently I suffered from trigger thumb. I chose to go to the walk in clinic and not book an appointment a month later with my doctor that is always 2-3 hours behind and wouldn’t have done anything. The walk-in clinic doctor is known to be rude, aggressive and not helpful. He told me there was nothing wrong but to come back if it still hurt. 2 weeks later and very painful he made the diagnosis which I suggested the first time. Then said come back in a week if it still hurts, I did, he did a cortisone shot. Which helped but my thumb still gets stuck. I could refer myself to physio therapy which hasn't been helpful for anything so far. I've also noticed from living in this body that my joint pain moves around and I think it’s a type of arthritis. My doctor says its not arthritis but my spine xrays 2 years ago said osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease and bone spurs. I did see a good doctor at the ER last year when i waited 6 hours for a tetanus shot. Unfortunately new doctors are reserved for health care friends and family it seems. And I was informed by my clinic that once they make a doctor your family doctor they won’t let you see anyone else, unless it’s walk-in. Which is the doctors that no one makes appointments to see for good reason. Often my family doctor is there or this other one. I’ve seen the health care system fail so many people besides myself. Anyway when you finally do see your physician ask for 8 refills and tell them it’s extremely hard to get an appointment to see them. Your condition should be managed better and would it kill them to be on time or take a phone appointment?
Yes I know :( it’s because I’m on concerta an ADHD med, it’s not even a triplicate prescription. So I don’t understand why I have to take up someone else’s spot for an appointment for it. I won’t be off if it any time soon. Probably never. I don’t know. It’s a waste of an appointment for someone who would really need it. But the doctor won’t write the script unless he sees me. Probably not his fault it’s probably some regulation when prescribing the medication :(.
Clinic provided therapist? Like mental health therapist?
Where I live rurally that’s like a year wait and to see your doctor it’s more then three weeks.
Alberta health services runs a clinic through the hospital where I live and the doctors are contracts out
A doctor with a private medical clinic tried to sell his practice to a doctor and Alberta health services denied it so living our town with less doctors
Also Alberta health services says there a nursing shortage and all the nurses don’t want to work up north or full time
But when I talk to so many of my nursing friends they cannot get full time and only get hired part time
Honestly it’s government that is the problem but Alberta health services is also doing sketchy stuff and isn’t to be trusted
It honestly all comes down to MASS immigration.
We have brought in tons of people in Canada and it is a game of musical chairs and as more people come to the province it is not more doctors or healthcare workers with the UCP's politics and lack of regard for healthcare wages or safety.
All Canadians need to make the next election about mass immigration and make sure we only bring in healthcare workers and trades people not tim hortons workers, uber drivers and others who take from the public coffers and use our free healthcare system in which their minimum wages and their tax do not pay for their use of public services.
I HATE THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM and I'm a healthy person. I can't get on a waiting list for a family doctor in my city so my options are to drive to another city and have 2 star rated Dr. Joe shmo be my primary care physician or go to walk in clinics which everyone knows takes all day unless your fucking waiting outside an hour before opening. The reception makes it like I have no choice but to come in if I want the results, when they have online portals that they could have let me know about and helped me to set up. It's so infuriating and is probably a big reason why people neglect their health in the first place.
Can confirm, just had to go to the hospital for the first time since moving to Alberta from BC and even though the wait time was absolutely insane(6 hours in the waiting room with a head injury where I literally lost fine motor function), after the wait everything was incredibly streamlined, organized, and efficient.
When I was waiting for my CT scan the guy I was sharing a room with got his Xray results and they offered to let him take a picture of the Xray and I thought, "huh, they let people do that?"
Then after my CT scan, the doctor came back to me with a printed copy of my scan results and went over them with me and left me with the sheet! I've never had that happen in BC, there I'll be told a paraphrased version of the results but never given an actual copy.
And then, at the end of my visit a nurse came and gave me an after visit summary telling me the details of my visit specifying my reason for the visit, my diagnosis, the tests run, medications given during my visit, medications prescribed, plus an entire concussion aftercare guide! I ended up talking with the nurse about how terrible the BC Healthcare system is lol. He told me you could get a procedure done in Victoria then go to Vancouver and they wouldn't know about the procedure there, but in Alberta everything is centralized in one online system so anywhere you go in Alberta they have access to all your medical info.
I've been disappointed in quite a few things since moving to Alberta, but this I was very very impressed by.
Hey from Alberta.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/alberta-government-control-provincial-immigration-system
Don’t vote UCP if you want less immigration
Health Care is a mess. Its worse again, but don't think a change in government will help. Its been getting worse with ever subsequent election regardless of outcome.
“Being a generally down the middle person when it comes to politics, I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail”. And that’s why we are in this situation. I’m an ER nurse and daily I have patients say to me “I heard healthcare was bad, but I didn’t realize it was this bad”. Because so many people don’t pay attention until they need it. We (HCWs) have been very very very vocal about the collapse of healthcare. Nothing is being done and it’s too late to fix it. Anything done today (which nothing is being done fyi) we won’t see the effects for 5-10years. It’s going to get a lot worst before it gets better.
What's being done is to intentionally make things worse. With the goal of making going private seem like a good idea.
You think that was common knowledge, but unfortunately I have to explain it many times to my patients and their families. So many people thing that D Smith is “restructuring AHS” will make things better- they don’t believe me when I tell them that absolutely nothing is being done to help the 10+ hour wait times.
It's kind of amazing too that she's already taken a victory lap on two different occasions on the subject. That's unfortunately what we have - one party trying to do something (whether people agree or not, despite the electorate being largely uninformed), or the most expensive 7th grade theater performance setting us back decades.
You are thinking they have a plan. They do not. The UCP is a business party. They see themselves as the bosses, and they want the power that authoritarian bosses have. Therefore, any threat to that complete arbitrary power, as represented by skilled labour such as doctors and nurses, and God forbid unionized labour in any form is a threat to them. And as all power-hungry bosses do, they would rather burn down the house with everyone inside than admit they are greedy, self-centered and wrong. Look at our wage laws, labour laws, temporary worker laws and even workers compensation laws and you see that the UCP won't be happy unless we are returned to the glory days of the early Industrial Revolution where a worker can be fired for accidentally stopping production by getting a leg caught in the gears. They look at the poor as a burden best handled by charity and the working class as only a maker of profit for the upper class. Go to any UCP constituency meeting and you will see the same people as found in a chamber of commerce meeting. Go to any UCP fundraising golf tourney and watch them all scrambling for the tax receipt. This is still Klein's Alberta, giving millions to Spruce Meadows and Horse Racing Alberta while resentfully throwing money on the floor of a homeless shelter to watch the masses scurry for coins.
I see what you're saying I half think they are just mindlessly copying Republicans.
When the UCP came to power, we had a Health Minister who owns, with his wife, a company that sells private health insurance. Smith wrote a paper a few years ago which stated that she thought that the cost of healthcare shouldn't come from the government, but from employee health benefits. The UCP tore up a contract with doctors, fought nurses during contract negotiations, and wanted to give them a *retroactive* rollback in wages. They vilified doctors and nurses during the pandemic, and told Albertans that our doctors and nurses were greedy. They privatized labs, and turned over all Lab work over to Dynalife. After Albertans complained of waiting weeks to get blood work done, the government then pulled out of the Dynalife agreement, at a cost of $31.5M, with assumed liabilities costing taxpayers another $65.5M. Kenney introduced "Alberta's Surgical Initiative' in 2019, which diverted surgeries away from public hospitals to private facilities. In 2022, the UCP upped the percentage of surgeries moved to private clinics from 15% to 30%. More and more medical clinics are charging patients monthly or yearly membership fees if they want to remain being a patient of their doctor. And this nightmare happened a few weeks ago, and it's unlikely this is the first case to 'slip through the cracks' as the UCP gave as an excuse: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/royal-alexandra-hospital-hotel-transfer-stroke-patient-1.7145856 They aren't mindlessly copying Republicans, they have been planning this before they took power, and they are pushing unwanted and unasked-for changes on Albertans over and over.
Which provinces in Canada do you think are making better decisions with regards to reforming healthcare?
Is Alberta only supposed to address our healthcare issues when we're absolutely at the bottom of the barrel compared to other provinces? Other provinces may not be doing well, but at least their governments aren't actively trying to sabotage their healthcare systems. And if things are better in Alberta, then why are [39% of our doctors](https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/ama-alberta-family-physicians-considering-leaving-health-care-system#:~:text=Inflation%20and%20soaring%20overheads%20have,Paul%20Parks.) are considering leaving Alberta to work in a different province or country, after many have already closed their practices or moved out of province?
This is the answer, and it blows my mind that there's even a single human being in the province that doesn't understand this. It's not "government failure/inefficiency/wtv", it's active sabotage by the conservatives.
It's very frustrating that people continue to vote against their own best interests. To own the libs or something even dumber.
Something-something "cruelty is the point."
I agree it’s mostly active sabotage by the provincial government. I’m totally aware of that and it makes me so angry. The problem that muddys the waters is we are seeing a healthcare crisis across all provinces, it’s not unique to a conservative government. But, the Alberta government sure is hell bent to make it worse so they can privatize.
I mean, I’d add that we had 8 conservative premiers running the provinces up until very recently (Manitoba election). The only solutions those premiers are putting forward is more privatization at 5x-6x the cost of public - all while existing public sector doctors say they have the capacity to take on more (this example is specific to chief surgeons operating more single day surgeries). These governments don’t want to pay Conservatives hate paying for “poor peoples healthcare” or poor people anything AND they can never raise taxes as it goes against their whole corporate favouritism ideology. Instead we get gaslit by premiers like Ford who pocket federal funds to show a “surplus” all while healthcare collapses in real time around us. The world is a disappointing and sick place
And Pierre will Benefit and help make the private option happen.
The UCP is ruining the healthcare in other provinces too?
Why would Alberta health services want thing to go private? Honestly Alberta health services is running the show not the government but they are doing sketchy things
Huh? Alberta Health Services doesn't, the conservative government does. Do you think AHS has more power than the provincial government?
I agree. And also wouldn’t call the dismantling of our healthcare system a “small detail” when it comes to politics.
You wouldn't, but people who don't pay attention would until it impacts them.
Cons have chosen to steal taxpayer money, give it to Big Pharma and kill their loyal subjects who voted for this. Privatized healthcare costs 2-3x MORE per person and the failed privatization attempts wasted billions in Ontario and Alberta alone. That could've paid for new hospitals...and more healthcare Cons are the BEST at disappearing themselves. Their life expectancy is up to 14 years shorter than liberal areas. The less Con interference, the longer everyone lives. Technically Cons are sorting the issue out, by killing themselves. Incredible.
Don't forget being in bed with Telus and Loblaws for privatized medicine.
Ya they also helped rogers buy shaw, eliminated telecom crown corps and have lobbyists on the board at Roblaws. There's a billion Cons. One of the biggest is Lobbying against auto accident depreciation compensation. If your car isn't totalled, Cons legally allowed insurers to steal that depreciation. That's countless billions alone stolen from drivers over the last 100 years. ..Then Cons removed the auto insurance caps. The level of corruption is beyond comprehension. Cons are like cringe F tier supervillains who do evil for evils sake.
What does this have to do with "big pharma?" I hate this government as much as anyone else but it's not drug producers who stand to benefit from the collapse of our healthcare system.
This is absolutely true. I work for biotech. The one thing Canada has done right as that we’ve negotiated hard with pharmacy to try and keep prices down in this country. Not like America, where the sky is the limit and whoever dies, dies.
I think we are moving further in the right direction there, if only the provincial government would stop getting in the way of national pharmacare.
Ontario gets it! As you move West, the less you get, except for Manitoba who gets lots of things others don’t. The differences between provinces is astounding
Come see what the B.C. NDP has done to healthcare…Alberta is a paradise by comparison.
Genuinely curious why you say this? I was under the impression things were a lot better in b.c now with the ndp
Really? I haven't had a family doctor in almost three years. My husband for over 5. Every time I check Alberta's find a doctor website, it comes up empty for my region. Walk in clinics are so busy, most of them insist appointments must be made. And in April there were 20 instances of emergency departments having to close for hours or even days due to lack of adequate staff.
By pretty much all metrics BC has the best healthcare in Canada.
As a resident of B.C. and having just moved from AB two years ago I can say it’s not. I’d be happy to review these metrics you speak of.
I’ve done the same and disagree. But here are some resources for you, nothing you couldn’t find if you just googled it you know: https://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/health-aspx/ https://ca.style.yahoo.com/healthiest-province-territory-canada-study-180020094.html
Did you actually read the article in the link? This is not specific to the healthcare system..this is an overall health index which is based of a number of factors. Show me the data on emergency room wait times, the state of hospitals in the province, cancelled surgeries and access to family doctors.
Do your own googling.
The burden of proof is on you not me.
Nonsense, you made the claim that AB healthcare is so much better than BC, you back it up yourself.
Wait times for example: https://www.statista.com/statistics/649600/medical-treatment-wait-times-canada-province/
Couldn’t have said it better myself, also a nurse. People just don’t give a shit until it impacts them directly then they go absolutely nuts. I dunno, maybe it’s just the human condition. And folks will wax poetic in these little silos but come voting time it will be the same clowns voted in because they promise some sort of tax break or benefit. Bread and circus.
But if we did something about it, then healthcare wouldn't collapse and the state wouldn't be able to sell off assets for private for-profit hospitals the friends of premiers / Galon Westons and Kevin O'Leary's of Canada etc are probably just itching at the chance to buy up and gouge us through the noses on like everything else in the country $10 says, watch Ontario health privatize and all the fastest top investors tied to the Ford government no different than greenbelt sales are going down on. $10 also says we immediately see an America style price system that creates the illusion of a working healthcare system because people just literally don't access it unless they can afford it or until they absolutely have to then come away with 30k in debt for an overnight in the hospital lol
Exactly. The 35% raise UNA came in with isn't totally unreasonable like the UCP chuds claim it is. There has been a mass hemorrhage of healthcare workers, and if the employer doesn't give some major concessions, it'll only get worse.
I've worked in most provinces over the last few years and it's the same in every one of them. Not dismissing what's happening here. Just telling you what I see.
Since B.C. introduced its new Longitudinal Family Physician (LFP) model last year, the province has had more than a 20 per cent increase in family doctors starting practices, amounting to nearly 700 doctors. At least one province seems to be heading in the right direction
Health care is totally a provincial responsibility. The PCs and UCPs have had almost fifty years to get it straight. I know because I am an older guy, and I have watched it decline steadily.
You can’t just pull the classic “stick it to the cons” on this topic. BC and Newfoundland are the worst when it comes to healthcare, and they are NDP and liberal, respectively. Quebec has also been notoriously bad as well when it comes to Healtchare
Yes you can. In this province, the ones who have been managing the health care (or mismanaging it) are the conservatives. Stop passing the buck.
They’ve been in charge over 50 years. We can absolutely blame them.
It is intentional. Break it, then privatize
And start an "Alberta is Calling" campaign to break it even faster
What are some examples that you have that BC and Newfoundland are worse off than Alberta? I’m curious as I have family in both provinces and they all have GPs, and never seem to have to wait for anything else?
"My Source is I made it the fuck up!" Edit: Srsly, just look at his history! 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
Look’d up your history and it’s just virtue signalling🤦🏼♂️
Idk about you m8 but I'm no anti vaxxer and conspiracy theorist! 🤷🏼♀️ Also I have merit and factual information on my side when it comes to politics, you just have dogwhistling and gaslighting! Speaking of which, where is your sources on your claims that bc is the worst when it comes to healthcare? Care to provide them since you have made such claims or are you gonna tell me to "search it up myself" when you have been called out? 🤦🏼♀️
Please show me your “merit” outside of virtue signalling reddit Karma. I linked an article with a data graph from statcan in response to one of the comments. Unlike you, I’ve got an on call job that isn’t “chronically online girl” so I’m sorry for the late response. You’ve clearly got enough time on your hands to to find where my comment with the link is
"My Source is I made it the fuck up!"
Lived in Vic for about 15yrs, moved back to Edmonton 7yrs ago. I did not have a GP in Victoria.
BC has the longest wait times plus is outsourcing to the US.
For hip replacements, BC has faster treatment times, compared to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, and Newfoundland. https://www.cihi.ca/en/explore-wait-times-for-priority-procedures-across-canada
The [graph](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7089196) in this article is from statcan and shows which provinces have the highest access to primary care providers for people over 12. I don’t have any personal examples for Newfoundland, but do for BC as I grew up and lived there up until about a year and a half ago. I never had a GP after I graduated university 6 years ago, and got dropped by my original family Dr back home as I was seeing a physician at the UVic Clinic. I also had a recent experience at Richmond General in BC where I waited 8 hours in the ER after being taken there by an ambulance (not my decision, my friend called it for me) and I ended up just leaving. The nurse said that the triage times alone were about 3-4 hours long, and an elderly man next to me with a dislocated shoulder had been waiting just a little less longer than me Edit: I still haven’t gotten a GP in Calgary yet which is to be expected cause I’m new here, but I’m able to get regular/frequent appointments at a primary care clinic here. I was still on the wait list for the one in Victoria
"My Source is I made it the fuck up!"
Ah yes, all the cuts to healthcare, the unilateral decision to cut doctor’s pay, and bumping up pay for nurse practitioners who run their own practice isn’t the conservative’s fault at all. Please tell me more. Oh, right. I’m sure the large influx of people to Alberta funded by the UCP through ads, and a moving bonus, will help solve the problem, despite us clearly not having the infrastructure to support everyone. Gotta love how the conservative party spends our tax $$. Might I add taking resources away from public healthcare by paying for private practices? Pushing for privatization also draws staff away from public healthcare, too, but please, tell me how it isn’t the conservative’s fault by pointing at other provinces and bringing up whataboutisms.
> BC and Newfoundland are the worst when it comes to healthcare, and they are NDP and liberal, respectively. Great. Still a provincial responsibility to manage their healthcare. Those provinces, just like Alberta, have failed to manage it.
war room account?
You totally can. It’s not super hard to track party power and healthcare spending and cuts.
I don’t care what their province does. I’m in Alberta.
If you haven’t noticed, Canadian healthcare in general is mess. Albertans aren’t the only ones having issues
Healthcare is a province by province matter.
And it’s bad in every Province. Some are worse than others but generally speaking it’s a mess across Canada.
Okay. But this is an alberta subreddit talking about alberta healthcare. What PEI does is irrelevant.
They don't get worse so it's not our fault it is such a lame argument. Classic what-aboutism, fallacious argument.
Yes you can? In MB literally anytime Unions won, the government cut rural care centers and centralized more in places like Winnipeg / Brandon etc as a means of punishing labor - oh, certainly ostensibly it was 'more wages means we can't afford care in these other communities and must centralize' but really it was about retaining the same budget and just stretching it thinner rather than consistently delivering the increases we ought to have been putting into healthcare the last 30+ yrs in the first place.
@jocu11 my friend, let me explain something to you, please. The purpose of this subreddit is to criticize conservatives and conservative ideas. Asking questions like "Where is it better?" or "What model should we follow, that is working better?" will just get you inarticulate screaming and downvotes. The Conservative are mean. They make healthcare, homelessness and the drug crisis worse, intentionally. The NDP will fix it all, at great cost, but it will totally be worth it!! If you point out that BC has had almost as many Leftist governments as Alberta has had Conservative, but homelessness, healthcare and the drug crisis are at least as bad there, you'll just get screamed at.
No you are right….. Alberta health services is also the problem
Dude you aren’t allowed to mention that the NDP are outsourcing to private healthcare in the US a few years after they shutdown local private healthcare saying the public system will be fine. Nor can you mention that BC has the longest wait times in the country. Don’t you know conservative bad NDP good?
BC's surgical wait times aren't the worst in Canada. https://www.cihi.ca/en/explore-wait-times-for-priority-procedures-across-canada
This type of conversation is the kind of distraction that keeps us from working together towards a common goal and politicians LOVE it! Cons are in power now, meaning they’re responsible for our healthcare and I’m fairly certain everyone in this thread knows it’s falling to shit. If we met in the middle despite our ideologies, we could make them change that course. Can you imagine Left and Right protesting together? They would shit their pants! — I am curious about your comment about the Alberta NDP outsourcing private healthcare as I can’t find any information on it. Can you provide a source please?
I meant the BC NDP though they are one big party so it’s the Albertan NDP too https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HLTH0065-000740 That being said yep! This is a problem across the country for all parties. No one wants to touch the hot potato they just pass it on. The solution which is to increase slots for doctors to do their training/school, to lock them to contracts in Canada to prevent brain drain, and to reduce their pay to be in line with similar European nations is quite unpopular. We pay quite a bit more than Britain, Germany, France, etc does for doctors. “In Foundation training, you will earn a basic salary of £32,398 to £37,303 (from 1 April 2023). If you’re a doctor starting your specialist training in 2023 your basic salary will be £43,923 to £63,152. Specialty doctors and specialist payscale If you’re working as a specialty doctor you’ll earn a basic salary of £52,530 to £82,400. If you are a specialist grade doctor you'll earn a basic salary of £83,945 to £92,275.” https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors/pay-doctors#:~:text=If%20you're%20working%20as,%C2%A383%2C945%20to%20%C2%A392%2C275. 100 pounds=171 cad btw. So basically doctors there make $100k before specializing and max out at $160k Offer free medical school if students agree to only work in Canada and have them repay the loan if they move.
Ahhh, I see now. Sorry I misunderstood and thanks for the link. That is wild to see any NDP party push for privatized healthcare, completely against their values imho. And you’re right, it’s gotten so bad that digging into it is political suicide and costs an election. So we have a boat that’s so big, it can’t adapt. Awesome! EDIT: Agree with your solution. I understand why they would open the door for Cancer patients to seek support but that solution needs to be a stop gap with a solution in place.
Hahah yeah they get away with it because conservatives bad but left wing partycan do no wrong 😂 Same thing when Ford cancelled sustainable energy projects it was bad but when NDP did it it’s good. The fact is Canada is hooped and no one wants to fix the system. I don’t pretend the conservatives are good I just think they will stop making it worse. Our income taxes are higher than China a giant government control+military country. Where is the money going!? We literally have enough government money that we could conquer Russia.
Become more active in politics or suffer the consequences of those who vote for you. The UCP is doing everything possible to make it as difficult as possible for Alberta’s to receive the care they need. That way they can point the finger and public healthcare and say “See!! Private Doctors you can pay to see immediately is the solution.”
>I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail going on Some ancient wisdom for you: >"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." > - Plato
9 months for an MRI on my shoulder lol
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Yep, it is truly fucked.
Wait till the ones who are working just get burned out
1 year to get a CT scan for a possible brain tumour….. so I was forced to go private and pay out of pocket. I had to borrow money. Figured if it was cancer I’d be dead in a year.
Sorry to hear that
My throat clicks when I swallow and I feel a lump in it and AHS legit denied me access to a CT my doc ordered because it wasn’t “financially justified”
I have a doctor’s appt. early June, and am going to be asking to go for an allergy test. Not expecting to get that done any sooner than 6 months.
The state of healthcare should be way more alarming to the general public than it is. Even trying to see a psychologist is almost a year wait right now. And the free, public ones are so fucking overloaded, how can one expect to do their job properly?
It’s abysmal. I’m grateful to be seeing a psychologist who offers rates based on income, because I have been holding off and I have a lot of trauma to deal with that I’ve been I carrying around. It’s wild that there are so many private psychologists. It should be fully integrated into public healthcare. No one should have to wait or go broke getting psychological help. 😔
Was the biggest barrier for me, was rawdogging CPTSD and ADHD my entire life, then moved cities and had to do it all over again. It definitely needs an overhaul. And I expect Smith and the UCP to underhaul it.
Out of curiosity/ADHD fueled hyperfixation I looked at the ARD and there's a place in Calgary with a 2 month waitlist.
I’m torn. Wednesday I messaged my cardiologist about some concerning symptoms. Friday I was booked for a PET scan - but now I’ve spent five days waiting for callback when the results were so concerning that both the attending doctor at the scan and my GP’s office spontaneously called to check on me. It’s uneven as hell. I appreciate the staff doing their best under the increasingly shit conditions the UCP are deliberately delivering to eventually allow privatization to look like a good idea - while they and their cronies sit on the boards and take in the cash.
My Alberta health records will give you the results. Then copy and paste (without your personal info) into chat GPT to summarize in plain language what it means.
I did. It was helpful in one sense in that it did explain what was happening. It was not helpful in another sense that now I don’t know if I’m waiting for another prescription or a pacemaker. Or worse.
That’s a very stressful situation to be in for sure. I’m sorry you’re going through this. Keep calling the docs office. I find one needs to be very persistent these days…
Oh, I did that too. After the GP called to see if I was okay, based - and this is key - on the test results they saw. The GP suggested I call the cardiologist. The cardiologist’s staff: your test results aren’t back yet. Me: …yes they are. (They were back literally half an hour after I rocked out of the Walter Mackenzie.) Them: oh. Well, he’ll call you. Me: okay, can you give me a rough idea of when? Them: no, I don’t like to give false hope.
And now conservatives are coming after women’s rights. Unbelievable! Time to take a stand. ABC
It's people like you who are the problem. Living in ignorance until it affects you, then crying about it. Also anyone who voted UCP just isn't allowed to complain, they never tried to hide what they wanted to do to Healthcare.
We had the opportunity for change last year. Unfortunately, 930k people decided that they like everything being shit.
You think that’s bad? Edmonton 5 months to see a psychiatrist!
... 5 months is amazingly fast for psychiatry here. One of my health conditions is more than 13 months out on a referral- I don't know how much more because they cant tell me.
Thanks for telling that to someone who is severely depressed because of everything I have to deal with. With someone who is depressed, Five months seems like a freaking eternity, and then to have it cancelled and changed to another 5 months later especially when you have other healthcare situations that you’ve been waiting even longer for. I’m just talking psychiatry. I have multiple conditions that require specific specialists and I have waited and waited and waited for months if not years to get specialists I need. And I know for a fact, I’m not the only one the wait times in the healthcare system. It doesn’t matter anything mental should be dealt with as soon as possible not five months down the road because in five months that person who needed that psychiatrist could have unalived themselves by that time.
Oh, sorry, didnt mean it like that. To be clear, the 13 month one is exactly that case.
> unalived If you are going to talk about serious issues like suicide use serious words. Suicide is not a bad word and the more openly we can discuss the issues around it the less taboo the topic is.
Forgive me for trying to be respectful of those who that word is a trigger to. Such as myself. Thank you very much.
Understandable, in general most subreddits won’t ban you for using the word in appropriate contexts. I just want to encourage people to ditch the stigma behind mental health issues. It’s so important to talk about it openly with one another. <3 Edit: I’m sorry, it seems you may have changed your comment which makes my response seem a bit nonsensical. Originally the comment had read about concern of the subreddit rules? Frankly though I think of a concept triggers you you shouldn’t be exposing yourself to these comments and topics in general. It’s clearly not healthy!
My apologies I’ve been really testy lately with everything. I am so sick of people making generalized statements about people when they do not take the time to educate themselves.
And mine got canceled the day before and was rebooked with another psychiatrist another five months later.
Oh, also, that was for a psych related thing. Non specialist psych is over 9 months last time I tried. Ended up waiting 3 months for a 1 time "adjust shit" session by phone.
Indeed! Either way far too long of a wait times in any medical field right now.
During 2021, my doctor was very blunt with me when I said I was dealing with severe depression and suicidal ideation. She could refer me to a psychiatrist and the wait, at best, would be 6 months or I could go to the hospital and check myself into the psych ward with the hopes of seeing one sooner. I took the hospital route and that was 2 days of nurses taking vitals with no updates before I could see someone. As it is I’ve been referred to an autism specialized psychiatrist (unrelated to the depression/suicidal ideations) by both a psychologist and my doctor and I’ve been waiting a year or so. My doctor thinks both may have gotten lost or the specialist may have closed their practice without redirecting their referrals, she has no answers either.
Unfortunately the dr I need to see does not work in a hospital. He has his own office at the 108 street clinic. I need a specialist psychologist.because my issues I may not have been born with.
I’m sorry to hear that. I hope that you’re able to get the help you need as soon as possible. The wait is absolutely inexcusable.
I’m actually thinking if I make it through this alive I might run for office. I know a thing or two about our Medicare system, and I know several places that need to be improved and even how to improve them in some cases. Hell, I’ve been homeless several times. Due to my ongoing health issues I was born with and others I was not.
It sure is. I found out about the possible issue 10 months ago. That’s when I started this journey. It has been excruciating I had been in therapy for ADHD however everything we’ve tried has not worked and I have an extremely complicated medical history. Waiting on an upcoming surgery, that was already delayed 2 month due to new medication concerns on the original surgery date. So the anxiety from the switch ups and cancelations major surgeries and being on antibiotics for 7 months my body hates me right now. But hell. I’m still pushing forward.
Dang my waiting period was 9months!
Well I’m now going to have waited for this one over a year by the time I finally get to see mine for the first time. C’est la vie.!
That’s terrible and unacceptable. I’m sorry. 5 months is too long to begin with.
Agreed. And thank you.
The UCP have been destroying it for a few years now. We probably should have voted NDP last election. We don't think, unfortunately.
Notley had the best resume for the job. She was a good premier. Smith ruined her political career then somehow came back and won. Like most Albertans I know so many conservative voters that’s vote hurts them. Unless you own an oil company or grocery monopoly you shouldn’t vote conservative. I know doctors, teachers, single parents, rcmp, farmers and nurses that voted UCP. The UCP’s tactics of keeping it’s base riled up to distract from their true agenda is working. I used to respect these people but the UCP brainwashing has made them unbearable. Rachel Notley’s NDP was the solution to much of Alberta’s needs. She stood up to the feds, she had Albertans best interest in mind. I wish she’d run as a conservative, they wouldn’t even remember.
I know many nurses who happily vote UCP ... almost every one I've ever known in the leduc, Camrose wetaskiwin area.... it was bad when Kenney was in.. and they happily voted for smith
>Being a generally down the middle person when it comes to politics, I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail going on with our governments but holy shit something needs to change. Change starts with you. If you don't pay attention to politics, someone else will be making these decisions on your behalf. Lots of people like to say that they don't care about politics, but then suddenly care when they need health care, or roads, or police, etc. You can either be part of the conversation and decisions (vote, talk to your elected representatives) or you can let other people make all the decisions for you.
Yes it has. You can thank decades of underfunding and recent uncertainty brought about by the current ruling party (kicked off by Tyler Shandro on a Doctor's driveway, if you want to dig). Don't worry, we'll get private healthcare soon whether we want it or not. Then costs will skyrocket, healthcare will be slashed in favor of private insurance, and we can welcome the US model where at least the wealthy can get care.
Oh no, the consequences of Alberta's actions... Hopefully the rural community will realize the mistakes in their ways and learn from this (who are we kidding though?)
See the biggest issue here is that people are always going to vote for whoever messes with the east, and damn the consequences. Even *if* voter apathy was not in the question, this province will still be in the doldrums due to the fact that every other jackass values 'rolling coal' and 'good christian values' over operational functionality. I would be willing to bet my bottom dollar that the majority of the voting population int his hellhole is voting for spite rather than actually doing any research.
Political apathy has consequences.
I am sitting in a doctors office right now. I'm here for a meet and greet to get a new family doctor. My appointment was over an hour ago and I'm still waiting... I would have left already but we don't have much for options for family doctors. This clinic has us by the proverbial balls and they know it.
See I always try to space out my appointments at a reasonable interval so that I can spend enough time with each patient and not fall too far behind (I still end up staying till 9 PM finishing up paperwork on a clinic day). But I get criticized for being “slow” and told that I will never generate enough patient flow at the rate I’m going. Meanwhile, the doctors who double and triple book their patients and regularly leave them waiting for hours at a time are lauded as “efficient”, and I am told that I will eventually become like them once I am “more experienced”.
Yeah. It doesn't exist or matter until you need it. Fuck everyone else. All it takes for evil to conquer is for good men to do nothing. (Or some such "liberal bullshit").
14 months just to see an ear nose and throat doc.
Your side of politics is irrelevant, the province has been under investing in healthcare for years and the federal is mass immigrating more than we can sustain.
U one of those.... well u should prob start caring about politics a bit more
This is intentional by Danielle Smith. You vandalize functioning public services. You then claim that government is incapable of running those services. You then sell off those services to private companies who jack up the price of everything.
Danielle Smith will not have to sell a single asset of our Healthcare system. She is going to thoroughly salt the Earth around her, and force the NDP who will come next. To the morons coming in this thread and braying about how it sucks everywhere in Canada and saying stuff like 'you can't blame the conservatives for everything'... Here's the problem with that reasoning. This slow, deliberate dismantling of our public health care system has been in the making for decades at this point, and it was started with the conservative notion that taxes are theft, which infected both the conservative and liberal parties at the time. Because we were sold on taxes being a bane on our existence, we accepted the mantra, Hook Line and Sinker. In order to fund those tax cuts that we're so enamored with, they had to cut services. At the time, we didn't care, nor could we foresee the long-term losses, the social contract between citizens and residents vis-à-vis our governments. We are to blame for this current predicament. People like Danielle Smith don't come out of nowhere. They were born and raised among Us, and they are a reflection of what we think we want. So now it's time to change.
All you can do is vote NDP and convince as many people as you can to do the same.
It’s intentional dereliction by the UCP to privatize the system
Well, you damn well better start paying attention.
This is so frustrating. If you believe that private healthcare is the better option, then get your arguments together, present your case and get buy-in. If you have to actively undermine the system in place to create false pretences to justify introducing an unpopular system, then you’re not really trying to ensure people are cared for. Shouldn’t that kind of be a key tenant of governing in a democracy? Serving the public? Caring for people and their well-being?
I had crippling abdominal pains last week. Went into emergency and got in within half an hour. Blood tests and painkillers within an hour. Apparently I had a bad case of pancreatitis, could have been fatal. They kept me on IV for 2 days and supplied painkillers and sleeping mess when I needed. CaT scan, ultra sound, meds, and everything. Not a dime. What would that have costed in the states for most people? 20k? I can't imagine complaining about free Healthcare. (I'm in GP btw)
“I don’t pay the closest attention to every small detail going on with our government…” my friend, I hope this experience with what the UCP call our “robust” healthcare system, you pay closer attention to what the government is doing. They are currently spending MILLIONS dismantling AHS, the AHS that they spend MILLIONS forming.
Sorry man, ‘down the middle of the road’ folks are why we are here. People who haven’t paid attention to what the UCP/insertnextcontitlehere have been telling us what they have been wanting to do are the reason they kept getting voted in (as the majority).
That’s what happens when you underfund the system for well over a decade while also experiencing record population growth. We need multiple new hospitals built, a massive training drive, and a raise in wages and incentives to attract more people in healthcare.
Rural towns keep voting conservative and here we are. Spread the word to your rural friends and family - the UCP is doing this to you, and they are doing it on purpose.
Who did you vote for?
The rural areas continue to support Conservatives in spite of the negative outcomes because they don’t need doctors, nurses, or hospitals…until they do and the services aren’t there anymore. Then they’ll blame the cities for hogging all the healthcare workers and money for hospitals because the cities skew towards the NDP politically. They won’t vote for better healthcare because then they’ll be scared that they’ll have to pay more taxes and no government should ever have tax dollars to spend on anything except for subsidies to oil & gas.
is this not what rural Alberta wanted? i remember election time they was hating on NDP and said that UCP would never abandon them, and Danielle smith should run as prime minister
🤮 you made me throw up when you said that last part
These failures didn't happen over night. It's the result of decades of (deliberate) mismanagement. It's happening in Ontario too, where Ford (another conservative) [first violated the charter to try and keep doctors and nurses underpaid.](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bill-124-appeal-court-ruling-ontario-1.7112291?trk=public_post_comment-text) [He also deliberately unfunded](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/03/08/ontario-health-care-spending-doug-ford-hospitals-long-term-care/) the system, and deliberately [pays more ](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-hospital-nurses-private-staffing-agencies-auditor-1.7050828?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar)to the private systems than the public ones. [Many have noticed this.](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/02/21/2833007/0/en/MEDIA-RELEASE-The-Ford-government-is-starving-local-public-hospitals-to-privatize-them-charge-health-advocates.html) Provinces are the most important part of the healthcare formula. But it doesn't end there. Our last PM was the former president of the NCC (National Citizens Coalition). An organization of insurance companies founded deliberately to [destroy public healthcare in canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Citizens_Coalition). --- Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, there is no 'quick fix'. Any solution any one puts in place will take time to manifest. Likely >5 years (so no single term party can do it). Much of the solution is going to be "stop voting for people who are deliberately trying to destroy the system". But that latter point is hard to get across to people like you. And i don't say that to be mean or disrespectful ("people like you" just sounds rude to me). But if you're not paying attention to "every little detail" and honestly think "middle of the road" is what's best, then you are tacitly supporting this kind of thing. Even though you likely aren't aware of it. It's why people say voting for conservatives (if you're not a millionaire, or more likely these days, 10+ millionaire) is voting against your best interests.
If you were "in the middle" of choices between funding our healthcare system or starving it to death, you are partly to blame imo.
Dani and the UCP's Alberta Advantage ......how you like it so far? Not much advantage unless you be one of the "chosen peeps"
I needed an appointment with my doctor for a prescription refill. I called last week and the earliest I could get in was July. Luckily there’s a locum at the clinic who I could see today, since my prescription will run out long before July…. Guess I might as well book my next appointment now for when I need my prescription refilled next but it’s frustrating since I used to be able to get an appointment in 2 weeks or less with my previous family doc.
My doctor threw in the towel 3 years ago, I've had to use Telus Health for any issues and prescription refills. Even then, sometimes it can take a week to get 'in.'
I know a women whose waited over two years for a hip replacement. Still waiting.
There's no incentive to fix health care since this wouldn't make their friends any richer.
"When physically injured i wouldn’t care I could tough it out but a mental crisis is a whole different animal" Lol. You sure?
"I don't pay close attention to every small detail going on with our governments.." I'm kinda wondering how you decide on who gets your vote?
UCP's neo-liberal agenda planned this, they create the issues in the system and then point fingers saying hey look this is why the system is broken and a lessaifaire model would be better.
I work as a scheduler in Pediatrics and I get at least 1 to 5 phone class a day from parents asking when they child are going to be seen. The wait times for specialists are over a year AT LEAST. Some of them call looking for someone to blame, others call crying, most of them are at their wit’s ends. Honestly, so am I. There’s not enough rooms, staff or doctors compared to the demand there is for appointments. They are going to run this health care system to the ground, so privatization is the only option that makes sense.
Yup. Thank the lord I got on meds before the this… now I can only get in for a prescription… I really wish I could just get it from the pharmacy instead of taking a min appointment from someone one but nope. Have to sit there for two hours for an appointment to get it even though they say nothing to me other than how are you feeling and writing it to me. Then another hour at the pharmacy.
That’s crazy. My family doctor is kinda useless but i nagged him to send me to a specialist. He instead sent me for a very uncomfortable procedure with the specialist. I got to see what my bladder looks like before I was able to explain my new doctor took me off testosterone replacement and I had urinary issues since. I just call the urologist and leave a message, his nurse texts me then sends blood work request and my refill. The pharmacy could refill, trt is something I will be on the rest of my life. The tests they take are every 5 months (after 2 refills) but every year would be fine. Kenney is the reason my original doctor of 20 years left the province. There’s so much unneeded gate keeping in health care. Recently I suffered from trigger thumb. I chose to go to the walk in clinic and not book an appointment a month later with my doctor that is always 2-3 hours behind and wouldn’t have done anything. The walk-in clinic doctor is known to be rude, aggressive and not helpful. He told me there was nothing wrong but to come back if it still hurt. 2 weeks later and very painful he made the diagnosis which I suggested the first time. Then said come back in a week if it still hurts, I did, he did a cortisone shot. Which helped but my thumb still gets stuck. I could refer myself to physio therapy which hasn't been helpful for anything so far. I've also noticed from living in this body that my joint pain moves around and I think it’s a type of arthritis. My doctor says its not arthritis but my spine xrays 2 years ago said osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease and bone spurs. I did see a good doctor at the ER last year when i waited 6 hours for a tetanus shot. Unfortunately new doctors are reserved for health care friends and family it seems. And I was informed by my clinic that once they make a doctor your family doctor they won’t let you see anyone else, unless it’s walk-in. Which is the doctors that no one makes appointments to see for good reason. Often my family doctor is there or this other one. I’ve seen the health care system fail so many people besides myself. Anyway when you finally do see your physician ask for 8 refills and tell them it’s extremely hard to get an appointment to see them. Your condition should be managed better and would it kill them to be on time or take a phone appointment?
Yes I know :( it’s because I’m on concerta an ADHD med, it’s not even a triplicate prescription. So I don’t understand why I have to take up someone else’s spot for an appointment for it. I won’t be off if it any time soon. Probably never. I don’t know. It’s a waste of an appointment for someone who would really need it. But the doctor won’t write the script unless he sees me. Probably not his fault it’s probably some regulation when prescribing the medication :(.
Clinic provided therapist? Like mental health therapist? Where I live rurally that’s like a year wait and to see your doctor it’s more then three weeks. Alberta health services runs a clinic through the hospital where I live and the doctors are contracts out A doctor with a private medical clinic tried to sell his practice to a doctor and Alberta health services denied it so living our town with less doctors Also Alberta health services says there a nursing shortage and all the nurses don’t want to work up north or full time But when I talk to so many of my nursing friends they cannot get full time and only get hired part time Honestly it’s government that is the problem but Alberta health services is also doing sketchy stuff and isn’t to be trusted
4 weeks for my southern rural town
I turn 30 next month and I still have the same family doctor I've had since I was 6 back home. I haven't lived back home in 12 years...
It's the entire country, unfortunately. And it's probably going to get much worse.
It honestly all comes down to MASS immigration. We have brought in tons of people in Canada and it is a game of musical chairs and as more people come to the province it is not more doctors or healthcare workers with the UCP's politics and lack of regard for healthcare wages or safety. All Canadians need to make the next election about mass immigration and make sure we only bring in healthcare workers and trades people not tim hortons workers, uber drivers and others who take from the public coffers and use our free healthcare system in which their minimum wages and their tax do not pay for their use of public services.
I HATE THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM and I'm a healthy person. I can't get on a waiting list for a family doctor in my city so my options are to drive to another city and have 2 star rated Dr. Joe shmo be my primary care physician or go to walk in clinics which everyone knows takes all day unless your fucking waiting outside an hour before opening. The reception makes it like I have no choice but to come in if I want the results, when they have online portals that they could have let me know about and helped me to set up. It's so infuriating and is probably a big reason why people neglect their health in the first place.
It’s worse in B.C believe it or not.
Can confirm, just had to go to the hospital for the first time since moving to Alberta from BC and even though the wait time was absolutely insane(6 hours in the waiting room with a head injury where I literally lost fine motor function), after the wait everything was incredibly streamlined, organized, and efficient. When I was waiting for my CT scan the guy I was sharing a room with got his Xray results and they offered to let him take a picture of the Xray and I thought, "huh, they let people do that?" Then after my CT scan, the doctor came back to me with a printed copy of my scan results and went over them with me and left me with the sheet! I've never had that happen in BC, there I'll be told a paraphrased version of the results but never given an actual copy. And then, at the end of my visit a nurse came and gave me an after visit summary telling me the details of my visit specifying my reason for the visit, my diagnosis, the tests run, medications given during my visit, medications prescribed, plus an entire concussion aftercare guide! I ended up talking with the nurse about how terrible the BC Healthcare system is lol. He told me you could get a procedure done in Victoria then go to Vancouver and they wouldn't know about the procedure there, but in Alberta everything is centralized in one online system so anywhere you go in Alberta they have access to all your medical info. I've been disappointed in quite a few things since moving to Alberta, but this I was very very impressed by.
Let me tell you a story about healthcare in BC if you think AB is bad.
This is a national problem. Liberal policies are driving doctors out of Canada in general.
Healthcare is solely the responsibility of the provinces.
Blame the immigration boom over.the last 10 years
Alberta is calling....
Hey from Alberta. https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/alberta-government-control-provincial-immigration-system Don’t vote UCP if you want less immigration
Gotta keep immigration high to keep wages low...
Yup this right here and we just keep the gates open.
It’s not just Alberta.
Health Care is a mess. Its worse again, but don't think a change in government will help. Its been getting worse with ever subsequent election regardless of outcome.