Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie says the ambulance crisis in Alberta is a product of circumstance, but Alberta Health Services' 10-point plan to improve service levels is a good place to start.
"Their plan does require time to implement and I think I can safely say that we all wish them success and are counting on them to deliver," Guthrie said in a post to Facebook on Feb. 16 alongside a video message.
The province reported calls to 911 increased by 30 per cent since the spring of 2021, largely due to COVID-19 and opioids.
That, combined with labour issues, illness and Alberta Health Service's (AHS) mandatory vaccination policy unsurprisingly led to a degradation in service, said Guthrie.
"When service delivery and capacity issues were abundantly clear, why would an organization implement such a regulation knowing full well that it would further complicate matters and reduce patient outcomes," he asked.
"I can't wrap my head around the fact that dedicated employees that had served the public for years and throughout the pandemic were suddenly deemed unfit to work and placed on the firing line," he said. "And this was done so in a time of great need.
"Let's consider AHS' mission statement: to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans. To me, AHS management lost sight of this directive."
AHS has yet to respond to request for comment.
Guthrie said another "perplexing notable" is the NDP's support for mandatory vaccinations "and yet, being heavily critical of service disruptions.
"Once the left takes the position of supporting the reduction of healthy, available, dedicated front line workers — union workers, I might add — they really lose their right to criticize outcomes."
NDP Leader Rachel Notley told Great West Media the ambulance issue is spiralling in on itself and the province needs to recognize more resources are a part of the solution.
“I think the problem that we have here is that the government has basically decided to ironically park this issue and then delay the issue and bide their time on this issue until after the next election,” Notley said.
“The irony in that is that they're doing that on an issue that is by its very nature urgent and emergent.”
If the advisory committee — announced Jan. 24 — was designed to fix the problem, she said, it would have an end date and it would clearly be willing to consider the addition of resources to fix the problem.
She blamed the government for delaying solutions and letting cracks created in the system serve as justification for more privatized health-care services.
“I think this is a park-and-delay strategy by a government that wants to burn out the time between now and the election and use this as a way to delay answering for it,” she said.
Guthrie said the health authority's 10-point plan is a good start, but conversations he's had with medics has raised concerns yet to be addressed in the plan.
Staff dissatisfaction was a top concern he heard from medics, noting AHS administration must deal with burnout, improve work environments, morale and address feedback from staff.
Medics would also like to see workplace organization streamlined, Guthrie said. Medics reportedly said there's too many in management and supervisor roles. This, Guthrie said, is a waste of resources and time.
The telephone service, 811, he said, also needs some retooling.
Aligning resources with population growth was another topic Guthrie touched on. He said municipal governments pursuing aggressive growth must work to ensure increased public service needs are met.
"The province does not develop a municipality's growth plan," he said. "Councils should recognize the circumstances, as they had a hand in creating this environment and work in partnership with the province for improved outcomes."
Cochrane Mayor Jeff Genung released a video on the social media platform Feb. 16 urging residents to contact Guthrie and Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping to bring concerns forward to the province.
"The system is broken, we need you to help us to ask the province to fix it."
