The sight yesterday of Premier Danielle Smith and two of her ministers struggling to pump up the tires of a corporate scheme to pass off pharmacists as practitioners of family medicine and their drugstores as clinics was as embarrassing as it was disturbing.
No slur on pharmacists, who are an important part of our provincial health care team, but there’s just no way redecorating part of their stores as medical clinics is going to somehow make up for a shortage of family physicians in primary health care, as Ms. Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange valiantly tried to imply during a news conference in a Shoppers Drug Mart in Edmonton.
This strongly suggests two things about Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government:
1. It remains as committed as ever to the idea of introducing pay-to-play medicine to Canada, even if it has to slip it through the back doors of a drugstore chain.
2. It has finally sunk into the skulls of members of cabinet that given the UCP’s spectacular mishandling of the health care file over the past five years there is no simple way this government can fix the growing crisis in family medicine without a hell of a lot of embarrassing backtracking.
Plenty of Albertans have been reeling from the revelation by Alberta Medical Association President Paul Parks three days ago that a survey indicates more than 60 per cent of the province’s family physicians are thinking of retiring, moving or just quitting if the province won’t come up with a way to make their practices financially viable.
If anything remotely like that happens, it will be Albertans who pay the price for former UCP premier Jason Kenney and his former UCP health minister Tyler Shandro’s brilliant scheme to squeeze physicians till their pips squeaked and replace them with tele-docs from Babylon, Vancouver, or wherever.
So when Brampton, Ont.-based Loblaw Cos. Ltd., the owner of Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., waltzed into someone’s office with a scheme to rebrand drugstores as medical clinics, Ms. Smith and her political brain trust obviously saw an opportunity to try to persuade the rest of us that her government is actually doing something about the possibility the province may be about to start hemorrhaging docs.
With Shoppers CEO Jeff Leger in town for the newser – which appeared to have been organized by Invest Alberta, a provincial Crown corporation – Ms. Smith, Ms. LaGrange, and Jobs, Economy and Trade Minister Matt Jones sang harmony to the pharmacy chain’s announcement it plans to spend $77-million to open “clinics” at 44 drugstore locations in Alberta.
Premier Smith’s claim the planned clinics “will be a step forward for primary health care” was repeated several times by several actors with slight variations.
Invest Alberta put out a news release with a few details and some anodyne quotes, and a strangely fact-free release, presented as a “joint statement,” was posted on the government’s official website featuring a couple of boosterish quotes from Ms. LaGrange and Mr. Jones, who remembered during the newser to mention Invest Alberta didn’t put any money into the plan.
Of course, there are plenty of things to worry about with such a scheme, as critics were quick to point out.
University of Calgary Professor John Meddings, former dean of the Cumming School of Medicine, listed several concerns in an informative thread on social media.
Pharmacists “do not have the training to develop a differential diagnosis for a presentation and to take active steps to narrow this down,” he said. “They have not been taught how to do a proper physical exam and elicit clinical signs.”
“The risk of course is misdiagnosis,” he noted, giving the example of a child who might have fallen or might have appendicitis. “Children used to die of appendicitis and its complications. We may be returning to that in AB.”
“This is simply ridiculous, incredibly risky and once again a higher cost alternative than fixing the system properly,” Dr. Meddings said in another tweet. “We need team based care. It can/should include pharmacists but not as alternative providers. Family MD’s can and should run these teams.”
He asked: “What is it with our government and its adamant refusal to admit that family docs are deserving of respect? … This pandering to private h/c is going to make things so much worse.”
Another U of C professor pointed out, “there is a risk of moral hazard, in which the pharmacy finds it in its interest to make a particular clinical finding that happens to result in a sale. This is a retrograde step in healthcare and in the management of healthcare resources.”
Alberta pharmacists, who already have a slightly wider scope of practice than in other Canadian provinces and territories, now offer plenty of health care advice to their customers and do sometimes act as a stop-gap family medicine providers when no doctor or even a nurse practitioner is at hand.
Which raises another question: Other than the ability to bill the government directly for a few additional services provided by pharmacists, in what ways will these newly branded corners of Alberta pharmacies actually meet the definition of “clinic”?
Will Shoppers be hiring nurse practitioners or staff physicians to be on site, or is this simply a matter of opening some new stores, adding a couple of consultation rooms, and calling it a clinic to keep the suffering masses quiet when what they really need is a doctor?
My guess is that all we’re going to see here is new furniture and a coat of paint. Don’t expect pharmacists to start practicing family medicine.
The UCP printing up signs that say “Improving access to health care” just isn’t going to do the trick.
But never mind the steady commercialization of public health care and the risk of misdiagnosis, I’m sure the burning question for many of us is, can we now get Optimum points for health care?
Most recently, as in yesterday. I came to know that if you had the money you could get a needed MRI within a week. The public wait time was in the months, for the same clinic. The private side is raking in huge extra billing at the expense of the public. Shouldn’t this be looked at by the feds?
IM: If your doctor is willing to go to bat for you, you can have the date for your public MRI scan moved up dramatically. DJC
This has happened a couple of times for me. I’ve never waited more than two days for an MRI.
Another thing to do is go on the cancellation list. I had an MRI scheduled about 7 months out but got it within two weks on the wait list. My wife had the same experience. My second MRI was within a week but was an urgent brain MRI. I wanted to swallow some ball brearings to see if they would act like reverse bullets, but I chickened out. Also, sadly, no extra brain abilities after those massive magnetic and radio waves were blasted through by brain.
The feds are not responsible for the shitshow in Albertabama. Health is “provincial”. The UCP redneck MAGA wannabes are to blame.
Maybe you can answer this for me I’ve asked maycritics this nobody seems to be able to answer me.
If the concern is nation wide.
Which province do you feel should be responsible.
Then I ask what….exactly…. have the UCP done wrong again specifically
Have you noticed that Cons are in government in 7 out of 10 provinces? And that the BC Liberals behave like cons? And that pretty much all parties in Canada are currently following the neoliberal playbook?
I paid for my own CT scan $550 got it 2 days. That place in Edmonton said she could do 12 in each shift. I was told that some AHS CT scanners are only booked 3 per day. I still haven’t been able to find out many $ AHS charges the tax payer for doing then but I bet it’s alot more than $550. So maybe as taxpayers we would be better off to hire the company in Edmonton to do all of them
It’s been like that for many many years. I paid for an MRI for my son 16 years ago
People shouldn’t be surprised at this. The UCP are doing anything they can to get private for profit healthcare in Alberta, just as their hero Ralph Klein wanted to do. Under Ralph Klein’s poor leadership, nurses and doctors were treated like garbage, with a lot of nurses being laid off, and forced to take early retirement, or leave Alberta, when they didn’t want to go. Hospitals were badly maintained. Many people lost their lives because of this. Also, there were lawsuits against the Alberta PCs, when Ralph Klein was premier, but we don’t know the details of the settlements, because they were kept secret. The UCP are also treating nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals very poorly, and it’s no wonder why they are getting stressed out. The UCP will likely get lawsuits too, for putting people’s lives at risk, because of what they are doing to the public healthcare system in Alberta. This all was avoidable, had Albertans listened to people who said the UCP weren’t good.
Danielle Smith should be concentrating on what is happening now. On Monday I spent ten and a half hours on a chair in ER. Before my name was called. I am 63, have brain injuries from an accident in 2007 that still cause intense pain…this time they caused a migraine so bad that I don’t remember from 2 pm to about 10:30 when I slowly came out of it sitting on an er chair.They are hopelessly understaffed …and in the back there was only 2 ER doctors! None of out tax dollars are spent on getting more doctors. Every time the UCP are in,our medical sytem suffers even more. Jason Kenney almost destroyed it. Danille Smith wants to finish the job.
I used to live there. So glad I left. I was there when the drunk Ralph Klein ruled the roost. I never voted for him. Couldn’t stand him
Lol you do realize that would be impossible under the CHA.
If this is the best idea Smith could come up on her lengthy vacation, we are in trouble. Perhaps the sun was too hot and she couldn’t think clearly there, or maybe this is just a another typical Smith PR hot air stunt, with the substance mostly missing.
While this huge drug store chain’s expansion sounds impressive, there are obvious problems. First of all, I suppose you can them clinics, but if they are staffed by pharmacists, not family physicians who seem to want to leave Alberta or retire in increasing numbers, then they really are just glorified pharmacies.
Secondly, is this particular chains expansion really adding anything, or just displacing other perhaps more locally owned pharmacies?
Third, is this cozy relationship between the large eastern conglomerate and the UCP a way to try privatize or corporatize health care delivery more?
Nothing in this announcement indicates health care and its delivery will really be improved, despite all the UCP spin here. No more family doctors and no more hospital beds.
However, after a break, the Smith PR machine seems to be back at it. All hype and not much substance, all the time.
Who voted for this woman? Did they not see what she was up to?
Medicine Hat
Welcome to Alberta, where life is cheap. Maybe these pharma-docs can come up with a plan to use all the Tylenot immediately.
Speaking of bad judgment, perhaps the premier should stick to what she does best: putting people in crosshairs like a third-rate Tony Soprano.
Abs: Antonia (Tony) Soprano. DJC
Agreed!
Oh, by the way, tell Matt Jones he can get a blood transfusion at the meat counter in Walmart!
Or a prostate exam behind the pharmacy counter between prescriptions. Think of all the exciting possibilities!
I am in!!
Years ago, I was having sleep problems, so my family doctor suggests an appointment at a sleep specialist, so I go to Sleep Medics at the time. So I did their sleep “study” after being required to leave a credit card imprint in their unsecure network for taking maybe $300 worth of electronic kit parts that they claim costs $10K. Then, after some doctor somewhere read my results, they say I need a $2000 CPAP machine. I took one home to try it out for a week which turned out to be the worst week of sleep in my life. Turns out these places are not health centers for sleep, they are CPAP machine sales organizations. This is what the TBA government wants for all of health care. Upsell, upsell, upsell. Sad. After a proper sleep study by a U of A doctor, they found I did not need a CPAP.
Nailed it. The big grocery chain near me that owns SDM has a CPAP office within the doctor’s office within the pharmacy section of the store. Layers upon layers of selling.
I was also prescribed a Cpap machine….one night was enough!
I had a similar experience, except I was having severe insomnia so Dr. order the test to see if sleep apnea was causing the problem. I had the test machine 2 nights. First night I did not sleep AT ALL. I spent the night fully awake playing on my iPad until around 4:30 am when I took the machine off and fell asleep. Second night was the same but I fell asleep around 3 am.
Go back for appointment. Sure enough I have sleep apnea and need a cap machine. Some asked what night did I quit breathing. First night, I’d quit breathing something like 12 times. BS says I. I didn’t sleep at all. The data is right there and they show me some data. And I told them there data and machine were pure BS and left. Told my doctor about it too. Will never go to a private clinic for testing again.
This just demonstrates how stupid this UCP government is and how inept Smith and LaGrange really are. Sadly it’s Albertans that will suffer.
Sadly it was a slim majority of Albertans who chose this.
Duh Smith is too busy consorting with provocateur Cucker Tarlson and vacaying for most of the month at a secret destination to pay much attention to health care. She has a private supply of Chlorox and Invermectin so she’s good.
Privatisation is always preceded by intentional collapse of public services. That’s how they justify riding in on their corporate greenbacks to save the day.
I’m wondering about the law suits the pharamcists may face when a mis-diagnosis happens and someone is seriously hurt as a result. I think the first thing to ask a pharmasist is “Do you have a medical degree from a recognized medical school? before acting on their advice. How will the insurance companies view unqualified people giving medical advice with the probablity of expensive payouts?
The first thing I thought of when I saw the article was also, how big will the settlements be if the pharmacists are sued and who will pay them. Some one whose child died because of not having a doctor and being sent to a pharmacy would not look good for Smith and crew.
expect to see this type of operation in areas where there are more Indigenous People than Europeann descent.
It might make Galen more money and lord knows the poor kid needs all the cash he can get………..I do remember his Mother once saying, after she was appointed Lieut. Gov. in Ontario, “don’t hate me because I’m rich and beautiful”.
Ran across comments from a number of people who were all complaining about the increase in prices since Shoppers Drugs was purchased by Loblaws. Some of the price increases are staggering. but as some were writing Shopper Drug Mart is now simply a convience store with a pharmacy attached. They want this to pretend to be a medical clinic. Hell I’d feel better going to see my dog’s Vet.
I deal with a small independant pharmacy in Nanaimo, B.C. Went to Vancouver and needed two prescriptions refilled. closest drug store and Shopper Drug mart. The prescriptions were $50 more for each of them.
It may be dani and crew got the idea from B.C. where Pharmacists can now dispense a list of drugs without a prescription from a doctor. they do however not give medical advise. the press release advises pharmacists now dispense medication for minor issues i.e. birth control pills, antibiotics for bladder infections. The pharmacies also now are giving shots for COVID, flu, shingles, etc, gives the doctors a break.
That woman is certifiable. So she and the Shoppers drug mart boss think all they have to do is dress up the pharmacists to look like doctors? Give them stethoscopes and scrubs and they’re good to go? News here, Barbieland isn’t real!
Or, is the idea that if they build clinics in their drugstores the doctors quitting their practices will all go work for Shoppers?
You know I cannot write here what I really think about all of this but I can at least say that Danielle Smith is disgusting. I am sorry that in a country like ours we can actually produce people with such distorted minds and such awful views of other people and of the world in general. Her visit to Cop 28 was revolting and her picture with 2 cons and one egomaniac is to say the least disturbing.
Perhaps the question is why so many folks support this in Alberta and a similar politician in the USA. And quite possibly someone similar to this for our upcoming PM? And how can we kindly help them to care for one another. Isn’t that what Tommy Douglas intended when medicare was brought into our country?
When I read the CBC story about this last night, the point was made that nothing new has been done, other than Shoppers Drug Mart announcing some renovations. The services that were announced yesterday have been available since 2007. My wife and I have gotten our flu and other vaccinations at our neighbourhood pharmacy for several years, and my pharmacist has likewise looked at my annual test results and re-prescribed my thyroid medication for years.
In other words, this whole announcement seems to be nothing more than a stunt for Shoppers Drug Mart to get some free advertising for their new look, and our government to make it look like they are doing something about the doctor shortage they helped create.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-government-promotes-pharmacy-clinics-to-take-strain-off-family-doctors-ers-1.7095276
The side benefit of this is sticking it to the feds for coming down on grocery store chains for inflation/price gouging on the necessaries of life. The UCP will see to it that money from ordinary people is out back in the pockets of the ultra rich, where it rightfully belongs.
Which budget line is this, BTW? I can’t see that any of these expenditures of past months are in the budget.
In related news, IKEA announced plans for all Albertans to “build your own clinic with bits left over from chairs and storage units”. Sick people can line up at all IKEA stores and receive a voucher with their meatballs. With ten vouchers, patrons will receive a flat-pack clinic. Premier Smith was unavailable for comment. Film at 11.
Lefty: I’m putting this thought aside for April 1. By then, though, it’ll probably have happened. DJC
Previous Smith photo ops at drug stores suggested something along these lines could be imminent.
This certainly has the appearance of a modified so called 3P scheme that promotes a favored business. Unfortunately the choice of business is a poor one. Loblaws can hardly be considered a company to trust with health matters given its history of bread price fixing; i.e. the gouging of any individual or family who bought or wanted to buy what many consider to be a dietary staple while line ups grew at food banks. As consumers we have the choice to support retailers who are not in collusion with this abberant stratagem.
I would concur with this. Support the pharmacies that know their scope of practice and stay within it. As a health care worker, I know what I am licensed and qualified to practice. There is always pressure to step beyond that scope for $$ sake.
Hi Dave,
Can anyone really take Danielle Smith seriously? Thank you to some fellow commenters who came up with some pretty funny comments about this crazy scheme, so we could take our minds off the insanity of the idea.
Good question, Christina. It’s like Trump. She would be funny if she wasn’t so dangerous. And she seems to have her fans, and they get out to vote. DJC
As a reality check, has anyone written their MLA opposing this crazy plan? Were there any protesters at either Tucker Truck Tour events? If not, shame on us for moaning from the comfort of our living rooms.
A Trump wanna be. It is not that people like this were’t around before Trump..he just made it okay!
Maybe reporters need to ask for specifics such as: will the pharmacists do pap tests and prostate exams?
Or will they outsource such probes to aliens in spaceships?
Valerie: That could work. The only problem is, when aliens do the exams, sometimes you have to wait in the office for two to three days, and when you get out, you can’t remember what happened. DJC
Like, like, like! 😀
The UCP government keeps trying to sell their privatization schemes, and if Albertans don’t like it, it will be forced down their throats like Smith’s Turkish “TyleNOT” down the throats of sick newborns.
My pharmacist recently left his job at Shoppers and opened his own pharmacy nearby. His explanation that the operation of pharmacies in Shoppers, which is owned by Loblaws, had become inefficient and impossible to work with, should be a red flag for all Albertans. I was more than happy to take my scripts to him to fill at his new shop. Even in Ontario, there are rumblings.
Wes: As I understand it, the organization of Shoppers is more convoluted than merely the relationship between Loblaw and Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. The latter seems to run the retail stores – cosmetics, condoms and comics, as well as dairy products and patent medicine – but an “independent” pharmacist runs the actual pharmacy. I expect this operates something like a franchise, and I presume it’s mutually beneficial – although probably more beneficial to the corporation than the druggist. But it raises interesting questions that are worthy of exploration. For example, who gets sued in the event of an incorrect diagnosis? Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. or Joe Blow Pharmacy Services Ltd.? Do the pharmacists now running these businesses within a business even want to pretend to be running a “clinic”? Perhaps not, Maybe that’s why your friend pulled the plug and opted to run an independent shop. Will the franchiser/store owner try to force pharmacists to up-sell products or engage in activities that might get them in trouble with the Alberta College of Pharmacists? And so on. This is a very murky scheme at the moment. DJC
Has anybody thought it may also get them in trouble with the college of physicians and surgeons.
More proof Danielle is a wackadoodle deluxe.
Who better to help us with our health care deficiencies than the man convicted of conspiring to fix the price of bread?
I suspect that Galen will probably offer a reduced price on bread, as an incentive.
Dfjo: 30% off, Thursdays only, after four days unbought on the shelves. DJC
The next logical step is to authorize barbers to perform minor surgeries, as they historically did. Barbers could easily take care of such procedures as cupping and bleeding, which are probably going to make a comeback here in Alberta anyway. The savings will be considerable and it will take a lot of pressure off, not only accredited surgeons, but our over-crowded medical facilities.
Shave and a limb off – two bucks! Catchy – I can just hear it on the radio.
As I said to someone on social media today, Lars, why not a return to therapeutic bleeding? We’re afflicted with leeches in Alberta anyway. DJC
I still remember what a former MLA from the Lougheed era told me. “ Reformers are so stupid that they can’t run anything right so they try to privatize it so they don’t have to and then they have someone to blame if it doesn’t work out”. Inviting thousands of Canadians to come and live in Alberta without a thought or concern about whether our essential services can handle it proves how stupid she is. We know our health care and education systems can’t.
Smith is so desperate she is trying anything to save her ass. Friends at coffee this morning are certainly fed up with watching her treat us like morons. Apparently many seniors think it’s wonderful and they can’t get enough of her lies so she brings in her American friend to help her impress these idiot she. She seems to have a passion for criminals or from, being one herself, someone who has been fired from a job that’s not hard to do.
Perhaps we should look at what the Liberals are doing in Ottawa…bringing in refugees, asylum seekers, etc. by the MILLIONS and expecting provinces to shelter them and take care of their medical issues….are the Liberals also bringing in doctors, nurses and other medical professionals????
Shirley: You’re certainly entitled to complain about the number of refugees that come to Canada if you wish, or the number of immigrants, but you can’t claim that there are millions of them. Canada will welcome about 75,000 refugees this year. So at that rate, which is forecast to decline a little, it would take well over a decade to reach one million. DJC
Inviting thousands of Canadians to move to unspoiled Alberta (to help the UCP spoil it) was actually a Kenney initiative – not surprising that it wasn’t thought through. But Smith hasn’t repudiated it, so the idiocy is generational (considering the very short Reform generation time).
The MAGA Republicans seem now fully aligned with the Alberta UCP.
It’s a movement, as Marjorie Taylor Green, Congressional Representative, Republican of Georgia has said.
The Movement is pure northern European, white skin dominant.
The Movement is super conservative patriarchal christianity.
The Movement wants power, political power, for themselves.
They know they don’t have the personality, the skills, the education, the whatever, to get what They believe They are Entitled to enjoy whenever They want.
The Movement spent many years trying to recruit me.
They flattered me, invited me to parties, told me I was wonderful, better than all the “lesser people”.
The Movement, in my opinion, has found an acolyte in Danielle Smith.
My guess is that they will install video conferencing so the customer can ‘consult’ with a Telus Health rep who will direct you to the pharmacy to get some labs done – which they will charge you for.
But unlike AHS lab results you won’t be able to access them yourself. Of course you will need another appointment to have them tell you what was found.
Loon: This is part of the problem: We’re all just guessing. There’s not much plan to this plan, I would say. Leastways, not much that has been revealed to the public. DJC
Another issue privacy of information?
Holy crap, a Shoppers DM in Ontario advertises Pap tests, although it looks like that one might have a real medical clinic with real medical doctors:
https://nitter.esmailelbob.xyz/Marmee33/status/1750903538971201670#m
Valerie– At home self screening was announced in BC …Jan 9th(?)
https://news.gov.bc.ca>releases
It’s supposed to help speed up the process for testing ,especially with the doctor shortage.
I don’t know if they’re available in Alberta, I think doctors are still doing it the old-fashioned way.
Wow. Paying Galen Weston Jr. to build more pharmacies across Alberta.
He may never have to spend his own money again, while driving up the price of everything.
JM: To be clear, for what it’s worth, Mr. Jones said there was not government money going to Shoppers. So why were three ministers announcing it? DJC
DJC— from the Edmonton Journal: Adriana Lagrange clarified that the government is not ‘directly funding ‘ pharmacy-led clinics, although many pharmacy services are covered by the province.
Matt Jones clarified that no provincial subsidies went into Shoppers Drug Mart expansion plan, but said ‘Invest Alberta, a crown corporation that aims to attract businesses to the province, paved the way for the final investment decision.
Randi-lee: Again, this is not a change. Alberta was already allowing pharmacists to charge for some services and if there are plans afoot to allow them to charge for more, they have not been implemented yet. We will never know about it until it happens, of course, whereupon a news release saying “Changes to make everything better for Albertans have been enacted …” yadda-yadda. You get the idea. DJC
Just a foot note: Dani on X 1 day ago ..
“103 Pharmacy Care Clinics ”
across the province ”
also
4 hrs ago
“44 new Pharmacy Care Clinics ”
At this rate, by Monday, it will be down to 1 in Medicine Hat.
Cut backs, you know!
Anyway…
DJC, and fellow commentors,
Thanks for the giggles, if nothing else, humor is the best medicine for elevated blood pressure and gives me time to take a deep breath.
Skunks, IKEA, Walmart, ball bearings…. LOL LOL !!!
Now fingers crossed that we can get at least 2 days off, before Monday’s session starts. I’m being optimistic!
I believe one of the solutions to our current healthcare turmoil is to do exactly the opposite of what is being proposed. Our family doctors are a private corporation. Doctors are spending valuable time, time that could be spent face to face with patients, running a business, worrying about office rents and utilities, staffing, profits. If we hired doctors (paid them a salary comparable to what they earn today and a pension), supplied them with an equipped office and staff and just let them treat patients, how many more patients could they handle? How much effort is being spent billing the province for medical services? For what purpose? There are many good efficiency and economic reasons to go to a public delivery of primary care.
Why not put that money into actually encouraging Drs and nurse practitioner to come here? Or give the people wanting to go to nursing or medical school a break on costs? Or use naturopath Drs to provide a service? They actually get as much or more schools. Unfortunately they’re not covered under the medical system pay schedule. Pay Drs more money. If we have proper accredited Drs from other countries, use them as well. Whether we like a situation or politician or not, name calling won’t help the issue. Coming up with ideas will.
Danielle Smithshould offer to pay off doctors student loans in Alberta for each year they work in Alberta. They should have walk-in clinics open 24 hrs and pay the doctors higher wages for doing this.
Heard of med beds? Formerly used by the military, maybe still are. Germany is now using them. Canada is next.
One visit is all that’s needed. Hospitals will no longer be necessary. I bet Danielle Smith knows about them.
Medbeds are not real:
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-64070190l
I believe “Queen Romana” pushes the idea but it’s just another con.
These clinics attached to a pharmacy have been operated in Mexico for years and staffed by a doctor….these clinics are where you would go for basic ailments, as in colds, flu, respiratory issues, etc…not Pap tests or major internal exams….open weekends and evenings….walk ins, cost approx. $5.00 per visit….this operation takes traffic from ER’s and wait times to see your GP…..this seems to work as locals, tourists, etc. use this service and start healing immediately. I have been there as have many people I know and have not heard complaints.
These clinics should have a doctor on staff..can be rotating doctors as in Mexico…these clinics reduce numbers at ER’S….OR how about nurse practitioners who operate in other provinces…time for this here in Alberta…I might add it is difficult getting an appt. With your GP when you have a bad cold, flu, or respiratory issue…perhaps a week down the road….by that time we could be dead.
All good suggestions, Shirley, but where will the doctors and nurse practitioners come from? Like every other province, Alberta needs more of both than we can hire. That was true even before Jason Kenney declared war on doctors.
Perhaps ambulances diverted from closed rural EDs will be sent to the nearest SDM …
https://www.westernwheel.ca/local-news/service-disruptions-at-alberta-emergency-deaprtments-tally-38000-hours-in-2023-8147802
Why is it that this government disdains trained and licensed medical doctors? Perhaps the Alberta Medical Association looks too much like a union to them. I’m told by a family member that pharmacists will be able to bill the government $60 for the visit to the pharmacy while doctors continue to bill $40 for a similar visit. And that nurse practitioners can receive $100,000 for overhead costs in addition to $300,000. Those doctors and clinics that are willing to practice “10 minute” medicine might be able to compete but the majority who want to give adequate time to their patients are the ones considering early retirement or leaving. Said family member has 11 years of post high school training and likely should have purchased a fast food franchise if she was in it for the money.
I worked in health care for 37 years. No government has managed health care well. Why can’t health care manage itself instead of by politicians who know nothing about what is needed.
Well, I didn’t vote for her. If we want a different outcome to fix our health system, we will have to bring different politicians with less ideology and more sense of common good.
Last time I visited my nearest pharmacy, it had a functioning doctor’s office in it with doctors nurses and everything. Having a health clinic works. The only thing my pharmacist had to do during ncovid, was giving ncovid shots.
Timothy: This was in Alberta? pop me line if you wish about the location of the pharmacy. DJC
I find it pathetic how you all bitch and wine at anything new, Pharmacist’s have way more knowlage on prescriptions than any doctors does..you all think that they are going to preform open heart surgery..If I have a minor ailment I go to my Pharmacist’s instead of waiting a doctors time when he could be dealing with someone that has a majore issue… its a short term solution, but a solution non the less..but I guess The NDP under Notley did a bang up job reforming Alberta healthcare during their 1 and only term….Oh wait they did fuck all..
It’s always nice to get a calm and temperate response from the political right. I’ll let y’all know if it ever happens. DJC
So far she has do nothing to better our health care..housing crisis..homelessness..education..except blow smoke out her ears..we as Albertans are in serious trouble..what’s next from girl wonder…
Denine: What’s next? “Parents’ rights.” Brace yourself. DJC
This would have been a hilarious blog, if only the Danielle Smith Chaos Generator hadn’t been serious. Honestly, I laughed out loud several times while I read the comments. Of course, there are far too many ways this announcement could go horribly wrong—even by accident or misunderstanding. (Imagine somebody staggering into a drugstore, clutching his chest and gasping….)
As Bob Raynard pointed out, this alleged plan hasn’t really changed anything (yet). Pharmacists’ scope of practice hasn’t been expanded (that we know of). It may be that, after the next inevitably, enthusiastically breathless announcement by Danielle Smith (regardless of topic), this whole “pharmacy clinic” kerfuffle will fade into darkness and disappear.
Maybe. Meanwhile, I wonder how many pharmacists will have to explain to confused customers that 1) they’re not doctors, 2) they can’t diagnose whatever’s wrong with you and 3) there’s a very limited list of medications they’re allowed to prescribe. Imagine the sense of betrayal when Queen Dani’s fanboys learn the local drugstore guy isn’t gonna do what Danielle said he would! “What?! But the guv’mint SAID…!”
This may be the start of another exodus of health-care professionals from the Kingdom of Oilberduh. First doctors; then nurses; now pharmacists?
Mike: Don’t worry, if that hapens, the pharmacist will just call an ambulance. One should be along in two or three hours. Regarding Bob Raynard’s excellent point, I have expanded on it in tonight’s post. DJC
TLDR
Not sure what you’re all in a huff about and I don’t particularly care who it was but letting pharmacists prescribe is a brilliant move and a game changer. As someone with frequent ear infections just going to the pharmacy for what I need rather than taking the time of a doctor is great.
Although by no means a solution to the shortage of family doctors, these pharmacy clinics will obviousely help the situation by releaving some of the workload on our family doctors. Stop being so negative – it is a step in the right direction.
Mr. Bobrow: As you will see from my latest post, while the negative features of this approach are in my opinion obvious and worthy of criticism, the claimed benefits are in fact almost non-existence. The chances this will do anything to relieve family physicians’ workloads are vanishingly small. DJC
Know who is doing what at your pharmacy and check out the reviews of your pharmacy. I actually follow wherever my pharmacist moves to within reason. I would recommend quickly looking up on ALIS or AHS websites to find out more about 3 types of workers. Pharmacy technician vs pharmacy assistant vs pharmacist in regards to education salary job outlook Also check out the courses in the specific secondary schools and there pass grade and length of program Look at U of A pharmacy pre requirement added to pharmacy school. As you scroll down all the above information nowhere are they doing medical rotations like med interns and residents if you want precise information on your medication and have specific questions on interactions ask the pharmacist. At my pharmacy the pharmacy technicians do the blister packs. I do worry if there will be less pharmacists in the future and those we have will be placed in administrative leader type role. Like they did with BScN RN in nursing Also how much more can be added to the pharmacist role as previous commenters have indicated there was no new news as they Pharmacist have been doing it already Pharmacists as seen in UOf A courses study Drugs medication in intensive depth. Drs utilize drugs as one of the available treatments to treat the whole patient. How many hybrids of health care practitioners will there be in DS big Ahs revision. Thx to all Signed old RN
The problem is not having independent pharmacists working in a clinical team with doctors and nurses in any type of health care. The problem is that most pharmacists in Alberta work in the retail sector that is mostly controlled by large for-profit companies who want to sell you other unhealthy crap. Does Galen Weston have to control everything in Canada including now health care in Alberta? This is just going to accelerate the exit of older family doctors and dissuade new doctors from coming to Alberta. How can you compete with these large corporations with massive front stores selling junk food, cannabis, banking, computers and now health care? Most docs could not compete unless you let them start dispensing their own drugs and perhaps sell clothing or lottery tickets to cover overhead. This government has no clue what it is doing, and it is the Alberta patient that is doing to be hurt. But I guess voters will feel the pain before the next election. Hopefully, pain will make them stronger and not kill them.
Obviously you just gotta suck it up folks because if I remember correctly no need to show up at any health care facility until the fourth stage is reached and until that happens it’s really mind over matter… And I have taken this to heart and will not burden any AHS facility with even my shadow until 4th stage has been reached… so march to this drum and get in line until then… love Danielle cuz she’s got it all going on… Am I right Albertans? Go Team 44 more years!!! G
Given Canada has a shortage of doctors it does amaze me the various provincial governments haven’t had a chat with Universities about creating more seats in their medical schools.
G.P.s have been retiring and the aging baby boomers are also almost all out the door. It seemed no one wanted to ensure more medical students were being trained. In stead we had a lot of Saudi students filling the seats in medical school. why? because universities can charge them more money for tuition. For those who did graduate Canadian medical students many couldn’t find residencies. Canadian students who might have gone to Ireland to get their education who wanted to return to Canada could not find residencies, but Canada certainly had more than a few Saudi’s in residencies.
Now Canada does have an obligation to help educate doctors for countries who do not have the infrastucture, but Saudi Arabia isn’t one of them.
why haven’t provinces recruited in England. From what I’ve been reading their junior doctors are very unhappy, lousy working conditions, very low pay.
We are now in a position of having to play catch up. if you want doctors be prepared to spend money to educate them.
In Nanaimo we have a group of Nurse Practioners. The neighbours who receive their health care from them are happy They have gone there for pre natal care, taken their kids there, etc.
As to pharmacists, there are some things they could do, like shots, minor prescriptions, but the rest, not so much. I’d rather see the Vet. Diagnosed cancer in two of my dogs, provided them with surgeons, medication, etc. adn the both went on to live for some more years.
as to shopper’s drugs becoming involved in the practise of medicine, some body needs to get a brain.
for those of us who can apply for citizenship in various European countries, might want to look into that.
There are better ways to run a health care system than we currently are. Many young doctors do not want to be G.P.s, the hours are long, you are not only running a medical practise but a business. It might be time for provincial governments to establish clinics which they pay for along with the support staff and the doctors are on salary and have regular hours and days of work.
e.a.f.: Alberta has always thought it could save money on education and training for health care professions and poach them from other jurisdictions. This may have worked once upon a time, but it won’t work now. Unfortunately, the disdain of anti-vaxxers like Ms. Smith and much of her caucus for the medical profession is so great, that a UCP government would rather replace doctors with Babylonian tele-docs, naturopaths, faith healers, and private clinics staffed by real physicians for their wealthy friends. DJC
If memory serves correctly, was it not Shoppers that was taken to task for poaching in South Africa? I recall that government then refused to provide confirmation of credentials.
With B.C.’s climate we didn’t need to pouch, they just came to Greater Vancouver. The Socred/B.C. Lieberals/B.C. United did not increase the number of seats in medical schools or even open more medical schools when they knew the aging boomes would be retiring. Then the increase in the cost of housing in Greater Vancouver, got so high doctors, lawyers, etc. coudln’t afford a house in the areas they had lived in previously. Business Execs and engineers aren’t crazy about coming here either.
We need more doctors willing to be G.Ps. or we set up clinics to provide health care and the government pays the staff and the building. Most importantly all the provinces need to add a load of more seats for doctors at their universities. They might also want to eliminate the need for a Bachelor’s degree prior to being admitted to Med. school. That is a wasted 4 years. In Europe it is not a requirement, only in Canada and the U.S.A. Germany and switzerland are considered to have the best doctors in the world. No requirment for that Bachelor’s degree. What that requirment did was keep the “great unwashed” out of medicine, you know, working class, ethnic minorities.