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our vision for a better

health system

It comes as no surprise that Albertans rankhealth care as their number one priority. We

need to know that when we get sickor whenour children, our parents, our loved ones getsickour health care system will be there forus. The Alberta Party understands this needand has developed a vision for a better healthcare system for our province.

Publicly-funded, universal health care inCanada is an idea that was born on the Prai-ries, and the Alberta Party believes it can beperfected here. Albertans should have the best

health care in the country, if not the world,and if we all pull together there is no questionwe can achieve this.

We envision a health system in which:

Every Albertan has a family doctor People can easily and seamlessly access

the help they need, whether it be prima-ry, emergency, acute, home, long-termor palliative care

Our seniors are healthy for as long aspossible, and are provided the supportthey need to remain in their own homesand communities

Patients can come home to their familiesfrom the hospital sooner because thereare medical professionals able to sup-port them there

No person or family struggling withmental health issues or addiction is

turned away when they reach out for help Everyone takes responsibility for their

health, and healthy choices are encour-aged, supported and made easier by thecommunities around us

Healthcare sta are proud of the workthey do and feel condent they are pro-viding timely access to the highest qual-ity and safest health care in Canada

Every community has a say in how theirhealth care is provided, and importantdecisions are made at the local level

Tax dollars are spent wisely, and addi-

tional investment is nancially respon-sible and always leads to better outcomes Every Albertan can rest assured that

the high quality care were provided issustainable, and will be there when ourchildren and grandchildren need it

While these hopes were expressed by BigListen participants province-wide, they werealso accompanied by a growing sense that ourhealth care is moving in the wrong direction.

Spiraling costs, growing wait times, the hastycreation of a health superboard, and concernsabout the silencing of doctors advocating fortheir patients were all identied as symptomsof a system in decline. Given the realities ofan aging population and increasing chronicillness, can we really continue to managehealth care this way?

Alberta spends more on health care than anyother province in Canada, yet has longer waittimes and poorer outcomes than other prov-inces in most areas of the system. Our per capi-ta health spending has doubled since 2000, butAlbertans actually have a harder time ndinga family doctor than they did back then. Newspending announcements seem to be o-the-cu or reactionary, rather than made accord-ing to a plan health facilities are being builtwithout sta in place to run them.

Throwing more money at the problem is not asolution; we need to better manage the re-sources already there.

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4 priorities

These challenges may seem discouraging, butthe good news is there are simple, achievablesteps we can take to start building a betterhealth system. It starts with clearly identify-

ing our priorities.

To achieve our vision for a better health systemfor Albertans, an Alberta Party governmentwould prioritize four dierent areas for action:

1. Home Care and Long Term Care

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Acute care beds in hospitals are very expen-sive (up to $3000 per bed per day), yet manypatients in these beds are only there becausetheyre waiting for beds in other parts of thesystem (eg. long-term care or palliative care),and theyre waiting a long time. Many couldeven be cared for at home, if we had bettersupport systems in place for their families.Increasing support for home care and con-tinuing care is better for Albertans. It givesseniors and their families more of a say overtheir living arrangements and is much lessexpensive for our health system.

2. FamiLy doCTors and Primary Care

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When people can easily see their primaryhealth providers (family doctors, nurse prac-titioners, and other health professionals), theycan identify and treat problems before theybecome worse, minimizing recovery times andpreventing the system from having to providemore expensive levels of care. The AlbertaParty will review and expand the primaryhealth network model and increase the num-

ber of practitioners. We would also establishbetter connections between these networksand local communities, to ensure that primarycare reects the specic needs of the commu-

nity where its being delivered.

3. PrevenTion oF iLLness and injury

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Chronic illness is the most common form ofillness and is very expensive to treat. Injuriesare a leading cause of hospitalization among

Albertans and oten require expensive treat-ment and rehabilitation. However, manyinjuries and chronic illnesses are largelypreventable. Simple and relatively inexpen-sive initiatives like improving the enforce-ment of workplace safety standards can goa long way towards reducing the frequency ofinjuries and illness, and lessening their hu-man and nancial burdens. The Alberta Partywill also create a school health policy thatintegrates nutrition and healthy living intoAlbertas education curriculum.

4. menTaL HeaLTH & addiCTion

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Mental illness and substance abuse have dev-astating impacts on individuals, our families

and on our communities. Pretending thereisnt a problem is no longer an option. Fami-lies struggling with these types of illnessesneed to know that help is there for them whenthey need it, and before their situation getsworse. An Alberta Party government woulddevelop a province-wide mental health strat-egy that treats mental health in the same waywe address physical health.

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Health care is a complex but fundamentalissue to every society. Its a reection of ournature, our values, and our unique culture.We can learn from others, but we cant simplyimport solutions from elsewhere and expectthe same results here. Only we can x ourproblems. Only we can turn our vision intoa reality. The Alberta Party invites all Al-bertans to join us in creating new solutionsto improving the accessibility, delivery, andsustainability of our health care system. Ifwe all pull together, theres no limit to whatwe can achieve.

The Alberta Party will bring the people whodeliver our health care, and those who re-ceive it, back into decision-making processes.Health care in Alberta has suered overthe past decade because we accepted thatincreased spending and massive reorgani-zations were the only solutions. This is notthe case. The Alberta Party believes doctors,nurses and health professionals are in thebest position to x the health care system,

but they need to be able to act when they seeproblems. An Alberta Party Government willimprove management of our health systemby empowering doctors, nurses and healthcare providers to plan and implement healthdelivery at the local level. We will increasetransparency and accountability of the healthcare system by appointing an independentHealth Auditor who will report directly to thepublic and will be independent from govern-ment, similar to the independence of thefederal Auditor General.

Although some components of our healthsystem (such as purchasing) are best managedcentrally, the creation of the health super-board moved decision making too far awayfrom local health care providers. The healthcare needs in Calgary could be very dierentfrom the needs in Bonneyville. The superboardhas stied innovation, and made it dicult for

local health care practitioners to make deci-sions. This needs to changebut immediately

ConClusion

thanKs to

stability anD sounD

manaGementeliminating the superboard is not the answer.We need to ensure that further restructuring

is well thought-out. An Alberta Party govern-ment would allow our health care system timeto regain stability before implementing an-other major restructuring. We would use theintervening period to get to work on the priori-ties outlined in this document and to involveadministrators, providers, and citizens in adiscussion of how best to structure the gover-nance of our health care system.

The health professionals involved in the cre-ation of this document (Elaine Hyshka, DonShurman, Dr. Guido van Rosendaal, TrinaLeblanc, Sherry McKibben, Pieter de Vos Jr),

and the 1500 Big Listen participants, whoprovided direction, ideas, and inspiration.