Health care is for everyone

By Chantelle de Jonge Chestermere-Strathmore MLA

Everyone has access to the health care they need when and where they need it. Seems like a simple concept and one that everyone can agree on, right? However, this has been an ongoing problem in Alberta, and across the country for far too long. That is why our United Conservative Government is taking immediate, ongoing action to improve Alberta’s primary health care system. 

Primary health care is the first point of contact Albertans have with our health care system and it should be available to all Albertans. Primary care includes visits with your family doctor, a nurse practitioner or a pharmacist.

We must prioritize change in primary care to make meaningful progress on access issues. To do so, we must reposition primary care as the foundation of our entire health care system.

Since they began their work last fall, the Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health Care System initiative (MAPS) has played a pivotal role in formulating our path forward. This initiative was led by advisory panels that consisted of primary healthcare leaders, Indigenous representatives, and national and global experts. 

They were tasked with identifying improvements to strengthen Alberta’s primary healthcare system and they delivered. 

Last week, Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange announced a series of immediate actions that will work to stabilize and strengthen Alberta’s primary healthcare system. 

These actions include the establishment of a task force, which will include the Alberta Medical Association and College of Family Physicians, and will have multiple objectives, notably the development of an improved compensation model for family medicine. In addition, the task force will explore ways to increase the amount of time primary care providers can spend with their patients and reduce the time they spend on paperwork. 

Our commitment to this work is unwavering, and the task force has a short window to deliver results. 

They are mandated to provide interim reports by January and a final report by March. If there are recommendations that can be implemented even sooner, we will not hesitate to act on them.

Today marks the beginning of a promising new start for our health care system, and we are excited about the positive changes that lie ahead.

(Chantelle de Jonge is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore and the Parliamentary Secretary for Affordability and Utilities)