Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie will be closely monitoring the government's follow-through on promises made in the throne speech to make Alberta Health Services (AHS) more efficient.

The speech promised to build hospital capacity, particularly increasing the number of intense care units, and to accelerate its Alberta Surgical Initiative that would see more surgery completed in private, certified clinics that are fully covered by government health insurance.

The government said the shortcomings of its health care system became apparent during the pandemic and must be addressed.

Guthrie sees a glimmer of hope, but it's only that right now.

"I'm very happy that it was mentioned in the speech from the throne, but I think the real meat and potatoes and details need to be shown, so I'll be looking closely at that moving ahead."

 

"I like the fact that our government is acknowledging that we have issues and that these issues need to be addressed. We've talked for such a long period of time about how great our health care system is. We've always compared it, and held it up in high regard, against the United States and other countries, and yet, when pushed to the limit and having stress placed on it, we've failed to meet expectations."

In January, Guthrie expressed concern over the failures of our health care system, calling AHS "bloated and underperforming."

"Our government has piled billions of additional dollars into the health system, AHS hired more doctors and nurses, yet health care capacity declined, and surgical wait times increased," he stated in a nine-minute video.

Premier Jason Kenney says the throne speech is just the starting point on the discussion surrounding health care delivery.

 

Kenney says according to the 2019 Canadian Institute of Health Information, Alberta had the lowest per capita number of intensive care beds in Canada, even though we have the second-highest per capita health expenditures in the country.

"That makes no sense," says Kenney. "That's the situation we inherited and went into COVID with, which is a very expensive system with results that don't justify what we're spending. So the broader strategy to increase health capacity, yes, will involve some more money, but also finding smarter ways of delivering things."

"Why is it that other provinces that spend less on health care can field more beds, particularly for intensive care? That's a serious question we need to answer as a province, and we will be addressing all of that in the weeks to come."

 

In general, Guthrie says he was pleased with the speech and believes it's indicative of where the government is heading on job creation, health care system improvements, and economic recovery.

"I think the speech from the throne did a good job and hitting and highlighting all those elements that we need to be focussed on for the next 14 months until the next election."

We can expect a little more clarity when the province tables its 2022-23 budget tomorrow (Feb. 24).

 

Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com