Alberta government promises to boost access to surgeries, tackle wait times

The provincial government says its recent investments has cut down on surgical wait times, but an Ipsos poll suggests many Albertans feel recently investments aren't improving the quality of health care.

The Alberta government says improvements are being made when it comes to those waiting for surgical procedures but a recent poll suggests Albertans believe investments in health care aren't providing results.

On Thursday, the province says the number of patients waiting longer "than clinically recommended" for surgery has dropped by 18 per cent since November 2022.

According to the most recent figures from March 27 there are 32,300 Albertans waiting for surgery outside that timeframe, down from 39,200 in November 2022.

The province says this change is due to recent investments included in Budget 2023.

This year, the Smith government allocated $80 million to pay for 20,000 more surgeries in 2023-24.

"We are making the investments and changes in our health-care system that Albertans need. The ability for Albertans to get the surgeries they need, more quickly and closer to home, is so important," said Premier Danielle Smith in a release.

The budget also included a $120 million investment over the next three years to expand and modernize operating rooms in many Alberta communities.

Alberta's Minister of Infrastructure Nathan Neudorff called it "a great step forward" for the province.

"As the minister in charge of the construction process for these projects, I am thrilled that more construction and related jobs will be created in the lead up to helping our health-care system grow and thrive," he said in a statement.

The province says it is still facing health-care challenges, many of which were made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"They existed before COVID – COVID has made the matters worse – but we have put in a number of steps in terms of increasing training, faster access to certification for internationally-trained nurses, bridging programs, improved certification both for nurses, doctors and health-care professionals," said Health Minister Jason Copping.

"We are making progress, but it's going to take time."

ALBERTANS UNIMPRESSED WITH INVESTMENTS: POLL

While Budget 2023 included "record funding for Alberta Health Services," a new poll suggests that Albertans don't believe the health-care system has benefitted from recent investments.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), suggests that just 23 per cent of Albertans believe the province's health-care system has improved based on investments over the past 10 years.

The poll results also suggested a fairly even split with Albertans' feelings on health care, with 47 per cent satisfied and 49 per cent dissatisfied with the current conditions.

The Montreal Economic Institute released the survey results on Thursday and included findings on what Canadians thought about a private health-care model, which some countries like France and Sweden, have adopted in order to cut down on wait times.

The group says many Canadians agree with the idea of that shift, according to the survey results.

"We shouldn't be surprised if Canadians, seeing what is possible elsewhere in the world, come to support mixed, entrepreneurial health-care models," said MEI economist Emmanuelle B. Faubert in a release.

MEI also asked participants in Alberta about the idea of health spending accounts, a concept that was suggested by Smith last year.

Last July, Smith pitched an idea where the government would provide Albertans with a small amount of funding that would be placed into an account for them to use for medical needs.

Residents would then have the opportunity to add their own money to those seeded accounts to pay for procedures.

She said the idea would be more palatable to Albertans who wouldn't want to add money to "a general pot" that would be utilized by the province's health-care agency.

According to the Ipsos survey, 43 per cent of Albertans are okay with that idea, with just 15 per cent saying they "completely agree" with the adoption of health spending accounts.

CTV News has reached out to the Alberta government for comments on the survey results.

The survey was conducted online between March 17 and 20 on a survey sample of 1,164 Canadians aged 18 and over, with an oversample of residents in Quebec (302) and in Alberta (199).

The results are accurate to within +/- 3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.