Neudorf says government re-engaged in talks with doctors

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 23, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf says the Alberta government has re-engaged the Alberta Medical Association in talks on the master agreement previously cancelled by the UCP.
“I think that’s a key piece of agreement that needs to be in place. Family doctors are private entities, they’re private businesses. The government doesn’t establish (them), doctors do that and they invest dollars where there’s certainties, just like in any business practice. That’s why that’s a key conversation and agreement to have in place,” said Neudorf in a phone interview Friday.
“We need to remove some of the negative perspectives around our province and this negotiation. It’s a burden of government to make sure that we’re getting the best deal possible in terms of our taxpayers. We need to have that resolved.
“And then once it’s more clearly known those issues are settled, we become a more attractive destination because we have lots of great things to offer,” Neudorf said.
In March, the AMA rejected the government’s offer with 53 per cent of members saying no. Fifty-nine per cent of members voted on the agreement. It was cancelled by the provincial government in 2020 but the two sides later returned to the bargaining table.
Neudorf said Minister of Health Jason Copping has agreed to come to Lethbridge to talk with doctors and get the local perspective.
“This is really being raised up as a priority issue for him even though he’s still having to deal with and manage COVID and ongoing challenges. He’s really working hard with us to find short-term, intermediate-term and long-term solutions for Lethbridge,” Neudorf said.
He said that few regions have been hit quite as hard as Lethbridge with doctor shortages.
“Lethbridge is a bit of an anomaly” in the decline of number of doctors, he said.
“We haven’t been replacing them as frequently as we probably need to and there’s a whole lot of factors and I don’t like laying blame” said Neudorf adding it’s not fair lay blame at anyone’s feet.
“I think this has been a very complex and nuanced decline over a longer period of time but it is an issue now and we’re facing that issue and trying to get some good things in place so we can resolve it as quickly as possible as well as setting things in place for the long-term future of the province where we continually bring them in, he said adding people will always be retiring form every trade and “we need to have those replacements coming up the pipeline continually as well,” Neudorf said.
“It’s not something that happened overnight and that’s why in particular we’ve been asking with and working with the Minister of Advanced Education and the university and the college to say ‘if we train more people in whatever locality they’re trained, those people tend to stay.'”
“So if we could train more doctors in Lethbridge and area, they’re most likely to stay in Lethbridge,” Neudorf added.
After the many years of training doctors undergo if they are living in place, they may have a house, a family and a routine and “you’re less likely to move away and if you do move away, you’re more likely to move to another locality very similar to that, Neudorf said.
“When you train doctors in a big city, even if they decide to for awhile go work rural, they miss their friends, they miss the amenities, they miss the lifestyle, they miss a bunch of those things. So where do they tend to move? They’re not moving from Lethbridge to Timbuktu, they’re moving from Lethbridge to Calgary or Edmonton or Toronto.
“That’s why a key part of long-term viability of attracting doctors to rural settings is to train more doctors rurally where they set up roots, he said.

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