PCs out of touch with Alberta’s health care needs

September 01, 2011

Alberta’s NDP Opposition MLA Rachel Notley says the governing PCs are short where it counts with their health plans: improving access to seniors care.

“Today’s re-announcement press conference was pre-election back-patting on the part of Mr. Zwozdesky. What really matters is that the PCs can’t even follow through on their plan to produce a plan to improve seniors care,” says Notley. “There’s a dire shortage of long-term care beds in this province – the root of long ER wait times among other problems. Fixing that should be priority one.”

Of the roughly 1,000 seniors care spaces created so far under the five-year plan, a mere 10 per cent are long-term care beds needed to keep ill seniors out of ER wards. Alberta’s NDP is committing to building hundreds of long-term care beds to meet the need.

Notley also notes the meagre 44 mental health beds created comes nowhere close to bringing Alberta to the national average.

“The PCs refuse to recognize and respond to the need for public, affordable long-term and mental health care beds because they want to leave room for private providers who charge patients hefty sums for basic services. They’ll continue dodging any hard plans until after the election, when they’ll increase privatization.”