Ottawa pledges $115M to support Alberta's long-term care

Patients in Alberta health centres who require continuing care will be safer as a result of funding supports from the federal government, officials say.

A $115-million grant was announced on Wednesday in Calgary to help improve conditions in long-term care facilities in the province.

Officials say the money will be used toward the prevention and control of COVID-19 and other illnesses as well as avoiding overcrowding.

Jean-Yves Duclos, the federal minister of health, says COVID-19 still remains a problem for Canada and the money will help in that fight.

"It has, unfortunately, hospitalized and killed more people in the first five months of 2022 than the entire year of 2021," he said.

"Over the last few months in the summer, we expected the virus to be less transmitted (but) we've seen, on average, about 4,000 to 5,000 hospitalizations."

Duclos says staff in Canadian hospitals are still overburdened.

The provincial government welcomes the funds from the Trudeau government's Safe Long-term Care Fund, which it says will help them pay for several initiatives they've been running for the past two years.

Alberta's Health Minister Jason Copping said the UCP government has been putting more than $300 million towards these extra supports, so the federal money will cover approximately one-third of that cost.

All provinces that are receiving these grants must provide action plans and monitor the performance of their strategies in order for their programs to continue.