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This is the plan. #abpoli #AlbertaHealth https://flipboard.com/@globeandmail/canadian-news-p0ceutmkz/-/a-202o2ip-QSSHd2Gk3Hxw8g%3Aa%3A729020400-%2F0 “Private surgical facilities in Alberta are starving the public system of staff and funding to perform priority procedures, according to a new report that concludes the province has yet to increase surgical capacity or reduce wait times as pledged.”
“The 20-page analysis, published Wednesday by the Parkland Institute, showed provincial spending on private surgical facilities increased nearly three-fold to $55.8-million in 2023-24 from $20-million in 2019-20. By comparison, spending in public facilities increased marginally.
During the same time period, the average cost of outsourced procedures nearly doubled, while wait times jumped for priority procedures, such as cancer surgeries, which are only performed in the public system. “
““For-profit providers are being paid inflated prices to deliver the easiest, most profitable procedures at the expense of our public hospitals,” said @alonghurst a health policy researcher and the report’s author, in an interview.
“The consequence to that is what we’re seeing in cancer surgical care. You’re seeing those wait times balloon … and they have very real effects on people’s lives.”
“Mr. Longhurst noted in his report that the public and private facilities are pulling from the same limited staffing pool. He said most public operating rooms in Alberta are not currently funded and staffed to perform surgeries during evenings or weekends.
“Paying for-profit providers a premium rate simply diverts staff from hospitals to the for-profit sector,” he said”
“median wait times for nine of 11 priority procedures tracked by the Canadian Institute for Health Information have increased since ASI was introduced. Lung cancer patients in 2023 waited on average 31 days for surgery, up from 21 in 2019. Over the same period, wait times for breast cancer surgery rose to 22 days from 17.
There were also longer wait times for prostate, bladder and colorectal cancer surgeries. Cancer surgeries are performed exclusively in public hospitals.
““Public hospitals have been put in the untenable position of serving a growing and aging population with fewer resources,” the report says. “While the Alberta government seems committed to deepening the role of investors in Alberta’s health system, this approach is proving costly for both the government and patients.”
@auscandoc Combine this with the corrupt way in which surgeries are contracted out to those private facilities, and we understand precisely why this is the plan.