Health-care advocate says new primary care agency won't fix Lethbridge doctor shortage

A physician is seen caring for a patient in this undated image. (CTV News)

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. — Health-care advocates say the province's plan for a new primary care agency, operating separately from Alberta Health Services, won't help with doctor shortages in Lethbridge.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange announced Primary Care Alberta will soon oversee all primary care in the province, to create a more modern and responsive health-care system.

“Why didn't they just put money into primary care? That's where we need it," said Bev Muendel-Atherstone, the chapter president of Friends of Medicare Lethbridge

"Sign the primary care agreement with the doctors. And we'll keep the doctors here, after all, retention is much better than recruitment."

Approximately 40,000 people in Lethbridge don’t have a family doctor and there are currently no physicians in the city accepting patients.

Two physicians at Campbell Clinic South announced last week they will be closing their practices, leaving thousands more without a doctor.

“Primary Care Alberta will be the provincial health agency responsible for the oversight, coordination and delivery of some primary health care services. What this means for Albertans is that they will finally have an agency that is dedicated to making sure their primary health care needs are met,” LaGrange said Tuesday.

This is the first step in the province's plan to break up health care into four different agencies: primary care, acute care, continuing care and mental health and addictions.

“Setting up an agency devoted to primary care is a made-in-Alberta solution," LaGrange said.

"We will actually be the first province in the country to do so. It's a bold move that is needed to ensure Albertans are fully supported in their day-to-day health needs through every stage of life.”

Friends of Medicare wanted to see more funding from the province to help recruit and retain doctors rather than reorganize the system.

The new healthcare agencies are expected to be up and running later this fall.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi believes breaking up AHS into four new agencies will create more bureaucracy and make it harder for Albertans to get the care they need.

“The announcement said nothing about getting more family doctors. It said nothing about paying family doctors reasonably. It said nothing about improving peoples' access to primary care," Nenshi said.

"Instead, we have a new CEO and a whole set of new managers to develop a new system that still doesn't have any money and still doesn't have any people working in it."