Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken says there is a problem with treatment delivery in Alberta. Wait times are increasing and the government's answer is to throw more money at the problem, he said on Aug 16.
Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken says there is a problem with treatment delivery in Alberta.
Wait times are increasing and the government's answer is to throw more money at the problem, he said on Aug 16. “We have been encouraging the government to get serious about working on the issue and to formulate a strategy with us, but so far their answer has been to waste money instead, and it isn't affecting any change whatsoever in the costs, nor in the application of any sort of treatment,” he said.
“We need to dig deeper into the reason why Alberta is spending the most of all the provinces for health care, and yet we are, in a lot of cases, getting less than should be appropriate.” MRIs are just one indicator of wait-time increases, based in part because they are often used to diagnose a patient's problems, and van Dijken said the province must get serious about dealing with this issue.
Various suggestions have been put forth by the Wildrose Party, including sending patients out of province and controlling the cost of middle-management. “There are strategies that could be implemented, things that have worked in other provinces that might work well here as well, but something has to be done,” he said, adding in his opinion, the system is broken and a better way needs to be found.
van Dijken said having a centralized delivery system for treatment is detrimental to the long-term sustainability of Alberta's health care system.
