Guest Column: It will take years to recover from cuts to health care

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on January 6, 2020.

I have had the privilege of working as a physician in Medicine Hat for the past 31 years.

I experienced the turmoil of the nurses strike of 1988 and the attack on the health-care system in 1994. Premier Jason Kenney’s plans will result in a similar disruption and degradation of our health-care system.

Front line nurses, laboratory staff, cleaning staff, laundry staff and others are losing their jobs in the near future. That’s our friends, and neighbours losing their jobs! Moral has hit rock bottom in the hospital and the stress level has hit an all time high.

Less significantly, family physicians face a 15-20% reduction in their gross income. Most will see a 30-50% reduction in net income as many overhead costs are fixed. Many will consider relocating and some will do so. Over the next several years, we will have less Canadian Medical School grads choosing Alberta. Hopefully, we will still be able to attract more excellent Foreign Medical Graduates to fill the gap – at least until they are able to move to “not Alberta” where they won’t be villainized.

Four years ago, after thorough study, the province decided to bring all lab services under the AHS – Alberta Precision Lab Services umbrella to increase efficiency and save money. Medicine Hat Diagnostic Laboratory, a very well run and efficient local company with excellent highly trained employees was forced out of business. Many of those employees found new jobs with AHS locally. Now many of those will lose their AHS jobs over the next two years. All of the expensive analyzers and equipment is already in place at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital and most of our local testing needs are met in house. Not any longer, many lab services will be sent to a Dynalife or a similar company in Calgary. It won’t be done more efficiently because we have the same up-to-date equipment and highly trained staff, but there will be a profit margin added on. All that money will be spent in Calgary, not here.

What does this mean to the public? Expect wait times to increase. Expect out of pocket costs to go up as certain medical tests and procedures are no longer covered. Expect to see more unhappiness and stress in your medical friends and neighbours and in the staff in the hospital. Please try to understand what they are going through. There is tremendous uncertainty and justified anxiety about job loss and the ability to provide for themselves and their families.

Then-premier Ralph Klein’s 1994 plan was a poorly thought out across the board reduction of 20%. Kenney’s “efficiencies” are designed to cut front line staff, fractionate the various medical bargaining groups, and reduce costs by reducing salaries, benefits, and job security. At the same time he will enrich his corporate friends and donors like Dynalife.

The mantra “we must improve efficiency because medical costs are skyrocketing” has been the catch phrase for at least 25 years. The previous regional boards and now AHS have worked with the Alberta Medical Association, the Nurses Union, and other unions to improve efficiencies and cut unnecessary costs – to follow “Best Practices”, etc. Does anybody truly believe that after nine months the premier has miraculously found the cure and all it involves is cutting front line staff?

We have come a long way in the Hat in 30 years. We have a very good relationship with AHS locally and our medical administration is more efficient and reactive to local issues than it was back then. We finally have sufficient numbers of family physicians and almost a full compliment of specialists. All that will be lost because, when Kenney is done with the family docs, he’ll go after the specialists.

If you, or someone you care for, plan to use the medical system over the next several years you may want to give Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes or Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Glasgo a call, send them a letter, or talk to them in person. Ask them why they are ok with local job losses, reductions in local salaries and benefits, and a guaranteed negative impact on your health care system. All of my family lives in Alberta. I am concerned for them. I am also concerned for my patients and for all the good citizens of Alberta who don’t realize what they have and what they are going to lose.

Full speed ahead Mr. Premier – this will take years to recover from.

And I thought Ralph Klein was heartless.

I’m Dr. Bill Ruzycki, and I’m not going anywhere.

Dr. Bill Ruzycki is a physician in Medicine Hat.