Summertime highlights health care shortfalls
By Lethbridge Herald on July 26, 2025.
Rob Miyashiro
Lethbridge West MLA
Summertime is here in all its glorious sunshine and outdoor fun. I hope you are enjoying some of the wonderful events across southern Alberta.Â
But along with all those long days of water sports, golf, camping, hiking, and all things outdoors comes something not so fun: more visits to the emergency room for injuries and accidents. Summer is a busy time for our EMS and emergency departments, so I want to thank all those hard-working folks- paramedics, ER nurses and doctors, and pharmacists- who step up every day.Â
The Emergency Department at Chinook Regional Hospital is not only dealing with seasonal increases in accidents but also facing critical physician shortages. A letter signed by 16 of the Lethbridge emergency medical services physicians, released in May, raised concerns about staff shortages that left the ER short at least one doctor a day in May, with fears that this could double through the summer.Â
While the letter cited a “nationwide shortage of doctors,” it also pointed to Alberta-specific challenges like “ongoing political instability and the steady loss of the previous Alberta financial advantage.”Â
A recent Alberta Medical Association (AMA) report, State of Health Care, released July 4, revealed that 18 per cent of Albertans leave the ER without treatment, compared to 8.5 per cent nationally. AMA President Dr. Shelley Duggan called this “very troubling.” While there may be many reasons for this finding, the lack of access to primary care is a major factor.Â
Every day, my office hears from people shocked to learn that no family physicians in Lethbridge are accepting new patients—a concern first raised by Alberta’s NDP in 2020. About one in five Albertans still do not have a primary care provider. As of this writing, the AlbertaFindaDoctor.ca website lists no Lethbridge family physicians accepting new patients.Â
With few options, many turn to the emergency department, where the median wait is four hours. We now know, too many simply give up and leave without care.Â
This summer, the AMA launched a new service to collect firsthand stories from physicians, revealing what they describe as “a health care system stretched beyond its limits.” These stories are heartbreaking—patients waiting years for consults, dementia patients left without overnight care, and people suffering or dying due to lack of access.Â
One tragic case involved an elderly patient who died of respiratory failure in a crowded ER after seeking care multiple times in two months. For more information, please visit the Alberta Medical Association website at albertadoctors.org.Â
Health care workers are experiencing moral injury when they cannot provide the care patients need—whether due to lack of family doctors, delayed specialist referrals, or unaffordable medications. I worry deeply for both the patients and the professionals trying to help them.Â
It’s particularly disturbing that physicians felt so unheard by this government that they resorted to an anonymous tip line to share their stories. What kind of system ignores its most dedicated professionals? We must do better- for doctors, health care workers, patients, and our communities.Â
I’ve been door-knocking a lot lately, and even those with a family doctor often say, “I’m lucky, but I’m worried about my family, neighbour, or coworker.” It shouldn’t take luck to access primary care. The UCP government must act.Â
Alberta’s NDP has laid out clear alternatives, which you can find at http://www.albertandpcaucus.ca. That same website has information about upcoming townhalls launched by the NDP called Alberta Better Together. The inaugural one will be held in Lethbridge on August 18, on the eve of Whoop-Up Days Parade.Â
Come share your thoughts and hear from our caucus and leader Naheed Nenshi. I look forward to seeing you there!Â
As summer starts to wane, we can look forward to Whoop-Up Days, our annual celebration of Lethbridge! I’ll be there, along with many of my caucus colleagues and I look forward to seeing you there or at one of the many summer events in Lethbridge. Take care of yourselves and, if you can, take care of someone else too.Â
You can reach me at Lethbridge.west@assembly.ab.ca or by phone at 403-329-4644.
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It makes one wonder that as access to health care for all Albertans continues to deteriorate, what the tipping point would be for Alberta voters.
Maybe Rob “I’m NDP this time” can check in with the wonderful system in BC for solutions. After all being orange he should have no problem learning fixes there with EBY et al that could be suggested here in Alberta. In the meantime.
Expectant mothers in B.C.’s Interior and North might have to travel farther afield to deliver their babies in the next few months as the province grapples with shortages of obstetricians and other staff at hospitals in Kamloops and Prince George, leading health authorities to issue warning about reduced services.