Lethbridge ER seeing influx of non-emergency patients as doctors leave province

“The ongoing feeling there’s a bit of a hostile political environment – there’s a lot of uncertainty over the future as to what sort of changes may be imposed that’s giving some people a hesitation to staying in family medicine or staying in Alberta,” says Dr. Wilde.

Other factors include added stress from the COVID-19 pandemic and lower fees for virtual care, which was heavily utilized during the pandemic, made running a clinic financially unviable.

“There’s also been a disincentive to see extra patients in a day, financially speaking. One thing we’re noticing is there’s a lot fewer walk-in clinic, especially in evenings, and my understanding is that is in part due to the fact that it’s financially unsustainable for physicians to work into the evening when they’ve been working all day as they’re not compensated for the patients they see.”

While he did not have an exact number of doctors who have recently left Lethbridge, he has heard estimates ranging from 12 to 25.

As a result, Dr. Wilde says they have been treating more and more people who are coming into the ER with non-urgent needs.

“Someone was coming in for a mole check, which is important but not usually an emergency, someone with ear pain for months, we’ve had people coming in for chronic illness medication refills like blood pressure or ADD – these are important preventative medicine prescriptions and we’re finding there’s more people that just can’t get them elsewhere as they’ve lost a family doctor and have been unable to find a new one.”

When this happens, he explains that wait times for emergency care increase and they have to prioritize which patients get admitted in what order.

ER doctors are also less equipped to provide the full continuum of care for things like prescription refills to ensure they are still working well for the patient.

While Dr. Wilde says he understands the temptation for governments to cut funding from general care due to the amount it takes up from the overall health budget, it is actually much cheaper for people to be going to their family doctor instead of a hospital.

When you go to a clinic, he reports that AHS is generally charged around $40, but for the same services at a hospital, that can be upwards of ten times as expensive.

For as much as medical professionals and the Alberta Government have been clashing over the past two years, Dr. Wilde believes there is still hope that things can get better.

“I think the most important thing is for government and physicians to work together to determine what sort of pay structures would help find the financial savings that are needed but without disincentivizing practice in Alberta, particularly in family medicine.”

“It’s not all about money by any means – mostly, it’s about that feeling of respect and cooperation between physicians and Alberta Health and government in working together to solve problems. There’s always going to be problems there and finances in healthcare are always an issue, but we have a vested interest for ourselves and our patients to make sure the system is sustainable.”

On the COVID-19 front, he says hospitalizations and ICU admissions have slowed down at Chinook Regional Hospital to the point where all regular services have resumed and they are able to start tackling the large backlog of surgeries.

by David Opinko

Lethbridge ER seeing influx of non-emergency patients as doctors leave province

What's Happening