Calls for action plan to address doctor shortage in Lethbridge continues

Develop a short-term targeted physician recruitment plan for Lethbridge
Outline a long-term physician attraction program that is tailored to Lethbridge
Roll out a community vaccine plan for Lethbridge and the surrounding area
Deliver daily, detailed, local reporting on the status of COVID-19 in Lethbridge and the wider South Zone

That deadline has passed, and Phillips wrote in again afterward to see if any progress had been made on creating an action plan but to no avail.

“Minister, you need to deliver a plan for Lethbridge, an action plan within 30 days. That is a reasonable timeframe, given the depth of the crisis we are now facing in primary care in Southern Alberta. When 30,000 people don’t have access to primary care, 30 days to come back with a plan to move forward, I believe, is reasonable.”

AHS told LNN that they could not verify the numbers Phillips alleged, claiming that approximately one-third of all residents in Lethbridge currently have no access to a primary care physician.

She adds that the city has seen the largest decline in physicians amongst major Albertan communities.

Lethbridge-East MLA Nathan Neudorf, a member of the UCP, told LNN that the shortage of family doctors is the top issue for himself and his office.

Neudorf says he has met with numerous groups such as AHS, Alberta Health, the former and current Ministers of Health Tyler Shandro and Jason Copping, and Premier Jason Kenney.

“As a result of these meetings, I have proposed a Covid Capacity Action Plan that would see immediate relief of COVID patients on our critical care network by diverting them to a Covid Treatment Centre so that walk-in clinics could open safely. The Action Plan will also involve consistent, proactive meetings with local doctors and work towards finalizing a master agreement with the AMA. Addressing the master agreement and removing ‘uncertainty’ from the market will help the doctors we currently have while also attracting new doctors to begin their practice here.”

Long term, the UCP MLA hopes that the University of Lethbridge will be able to play an expanded role in residencies and physician training “because doctors who train here are more likely to stay here.”

While the health minister has been unable to deliver the exact plan Phillips had been asking for, a statement provided to us says the province has been undertaking the following initiatives:

Minister Copping is aware of the concerns about access to family doctors in Lethbridge. Recruitment depends on local partnerships, and he’s pleased to hear that the partners in Lethbridge are making progress
AHS and the Chinook PCN are developing a broad recruitment strategy and communication materials, in collaboration with the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce, the City of Lethbridge and Economic Development Lethbridge
As part of that strategy, the PCN Medical Director and Executive Director are working with AHS South Zone medical leadership to improve recruitment and retention of family physicians in the Lethbridge area
AHS directly recruits to “sponsored” positions for physicians where there are specific identified needs, and they are currently interviewing applicants for AHS-sponsored positions for new Lethbridge-based family practitioners. Depending on the outcome, they hope to see new family physicians working in the community soon
In addition, Alberta Health has given the Chinook PCN approval to recruit a new Nurse Practitioner, which we hope will complement the services of local family physicians and help improve access

A quick search for doctors accepting new patients in Lethbridge on AlbertaFindADoctor.ca turned up few results, only showing the Prairie Treatment Opioid Dependency Clinic in Lethbridge and the Blood Tribe Clinic in Standoff.

At the end of October, our LNN Poll for that week asked if the family doctor shortage in Southern Alberta was impacting people personally. With 251 respondents, 56 per cent said they do not currently have a family doctor and were struggling to find one. Another eight per cent believed they might have to find a new family doctor soon, while 35 per cent had a family physician and were not worried about needing to find a new one.

During Tuesday’s press conference, we also heard from Kira McLean, who has been struggling herself to find medical care.

She moved to the city about a month ago. After swimming one day, she could not hear in one ear, making it difficult to do her job where she has to speak with numerous people.

McLean said she was shocked to learn to there are no walk-in clinics in Lethbridge and only one that would see patients who are not regulars. She made numerous calls to that clinic but was not able to get in to see anybody.

“There’s not a single clinic in the city that’s accepting new patients. There are no physicians. A couple of the friendly receptionists told me my best chance would be to probably try the emergency room at the local regional hospital and probably wait all day, maybe see an exhausted ER physician at the end of the day if it wasn’t too busy and I got lucky.”

As of November 1, lab services at the Bigelow Fowler South Medical Clinic permanently closed. The clinic as a whole will shut down at the end of the month after 11 physicians left.

by David Opinko

Calls for action plan to address doctor shortage in Lethbridge continues

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