Alberta NDP make health recommendations

Wait times at emergency wards in Alberta will continue to grow until the government solves the chronic shortage of long-term care beds, provincial NDP leader Brian Mason said Wednesday.

The Alberta NDP released a report called "What People Want" based on public hearings into health careheld in seven Alberta cities last fall.

It makes 37 recommendations for everything from improving health care for seniors to urging thegovernment to be more honest in the language ituses to describe proposedchanges tohealth care.

During the hearings, Mason said "a great deal of frustration, concern and even fear among many Albertans arose because of the government's changes, and the fact that the government would not reveal its plans."

The concerns are most acute in smaller communities, said MLA Rachel Notley, where people feel they lost their voice in health care issues when the province merged regional health care authorities into a single superboard in May 2008.

"There was no sense that there was anyone left in their communities that took responsibility for the decisions that were hurting their families," she said.

Mental health issues were also akey topic of concern at the hearings, Notley said.

"The state of mental health care in Alberta is abysmal and there are problems throughout the province."

There's is nopricetag attached to the recommendations, Mason said. But he suggested that adding long-term care beds would save the province money by freeing up more expensive hospital beds.

The NDPplans follow-up hearings in all seven cities Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray and Edmonton from Jan. 29 to Feb. 18 to present the report to residents.