Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Number of Alberta doctors grew at twice the pace of general population, Shandro calls for change

Jul 31, 2020 | 11:57 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has released statistics on physicians across the country and how those have changed.

In Alberta, the number of family doctors and specialists increased by approximately 12 percent between 2015 and 2019. In that time, the province’s population grew by around six per cent.

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says this is a sign that the province needs new approaches to paying and working with doctors.

“We spend 15 per cent more per capita on physicians than the national average, but Albertans aren’t seeing better results, and we have the same shortages in smaller communities that we’ve seen for decades. The previous government increased spending by $1 billion a year, yet rural physician supply grew slower than in other provinces. We need to align compensation with patient care, and make sure doctors are practising where Albertans need them.”

In a media release from the provincial government, they state that $5.4-billion is spent per year on physicians, “the highest level ever in the province and highest per capita of all provinces.”

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At the same time, similar numbers were echoed nationally where we saw a growth of 11 per cent in doctors while the population rose by 5.29 per cent.

The CIHI also provided regional stats.

In Alberta’s South Health Zone, the number of family medicine physicians grew by 9.2 per cent between 2015 and 2019, higher than the provincial average of 7.4 per cent.

This means that there were 379 family doctors in the region last year, up by 32 over that period.

The number of specialists in the South Zone spiked up 21.3 per cent over the four-year timeframe, compared to 16.6 per cent across Alberta.

This means that there were 245 specialists in the region last year, up by 43.

Family doctors in Alberta by health region. (Supplied by Canadian Institute for Health Information)

Specialists in Alberta by health region. (Supplied by Canadian Institute for Health Information)