Entries tagged with
health care
Ripple Effects
The Drug Toxicity Crisis and Its Impact on Frontline Health Workers
Based on a scientific survey of over 500 health workers, this report shows how Alberta's toxic drug crisis impacts frontline health workers as daily issues of inadequate equipment and treatment options, lack of managerial and government support, and insufficient knowledge about drug poisoning put them in a position of having to do more with less.
Sabotaging Prevention
Alberta’s ‘Preventative Health’ Ministry Is Anything But
The Alberta government has justified its new protocols for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines by claiming they will minimize wastage, save money, and prioritize the most vulnerable. In this blog, Parkland Institute research manager Rebecca Graff-McRae reflects on her personal experiences with trying to access vaccines, and debunks the government's claims.
Undervalued and Overstretched
Inequity, Discrimination, and the Crisis Facing Alberta’s Allied Health-Care Workforce
This report finds that widespread experiences of discrimination, wage inequities, and job-related stress are contributing to retention challenges within Alberta’s allied health-care workforce — the professionals who support everything from emergency response and diagnostic testing to mental health and rehabilitation services.
Red Flags
Smith, DynaLIFE, and the Precarious Future of Health Care in Alberta
When we as Albertans look back on what the labs rollercoaster has cost us — the hundreds of millions wasted, the generational damage to our health-care workforce, the erosion of trust in the delivery of a vital service — all of it may be dwarfed by the long-term damage being wrought to our health-care system in its name.
Danielle Smith tried — again — to blame AHS for the province’s health care woes. Alas (for her), hard data has a way of catching up with misleading statements. This article show how responsibility for the poor performance, high costs, and potential irregularities in Alberta’s surgical crisis sits squarely with the government.
As allegations of political interference and price gouging in private surgical contracts rock Alberta’s health-care system, a new report by Parkland Institute provides critical context, revealing how privatization has dramatically increased costs, undermined public hospitals, and prolonged wait times for critical surgeries.
Operation Profit
Private Surgical Contracts Deliver Higher Costs and Longer Waits
New data analyzed in this report shows that the costs of private surgical services under the Alberta Surgical Initiative have skyrocketed, even as patients face increasingly long waits — including for cancer and other critical surgeries. Meanwhile, Alberta is one of only three provinces where real per capita hospital spending has been steadily declining for the past decade.
Misleading Narratives
Pay-to-play queue-jumping won’t fix surgery wait times
This blog post critically responds to a recent Calgary Herald opinion piece on surgical wait times in Alberta. It shows how spending taxpayers’ money in private surgical centers not only failed to resolve the issue but also made it worse. The post also presents evidence-based solutions to reduce wait times in the public system.
Playing Politics With Public Health
Bill 6 must give Albertans access to key information
Bill 6, the Public Health Amendment Act, 2023, proposes fundamental changes to the management of public health emergencies by shifting authority for major decisions from public health officials to cabinet. This blog explores the ramifications of Bill 6 and makes the case for changes that would allow for more transparency and informed decision-making in future health crises.
Failing to Deliver
The Alberta Surgical Initiative and Declining Surgical Capacity
Through Freedom of Information requests, statistical analysis, and a review of the research literature, this report evaluates claims made by the Alberta government about the effectiveness of the Alberta Surgical Initiative in reducing wait times and the role of for-profit surgical outsourcing. Based on the research evidence, the report recommends that the provincial government shift away from for-profit surgical delivery and fully commit to public system improvement.