The Alberta NDP just released an ambitious plan to get 1,000,000 more Albertans access to a family doctor.
Albertans are being denied the public healthcare promised to them as Canadians. The number of doctors accepting new patients through primary care networks dropped by half from 907 to 446 between May 2020 and January 2022. Entire communities have gone long periods with no doctors accepting new patients, including Lethbridge, Red Deer, Canmore, Banff, and Medicine Hat.
We need a new approach—our Alberta NDP vision for enhancing access to primary care centres around establishing Family Health Teams. By growing access to this team-based primary care model — including access to nurses, doctors, counsellors, or whichever professional is best suited to help — we also grow the number of people who can benefit from that care.
As we move forward to improve expand Alberta's health care, we need to make sure we get it right.
Join MLA David Shepherd and other MLAs for our Family Health Teams Consultation.
Read the full report Family Health Teams: A Plan for Modernizing Primary Care here