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Olds reviving health professionals attraction committee

2,600 Olds residents on waiting list for family physician
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Finding more doctors for Olds will be a top priority of a revived health professionals attraction and retention committee.

A shortage of doctors means there are 2,600 Olds and area residents on a waiting list for a family physician, town chief administrative officer Brent Williams told council in a recent update on local health care issues. That amounts to an up to five-year wait for someone newly seeking a doctor and represents a shortfall of four to five family physicians.

“I would argue our physician shortage is driven by a miscalculation in what is deemed the suitable number of physicians in the Town of Olds,” he said.

In June 2022, the chief medical zone officer said with 17 physicians Olds had an adequate number of doctors and was doing better than most.

“I would disagree with that assessment and that 17 is not a sufficient number of doctors for Olds,” said Williams

A health professionals attraction and retention committee will be led by local volunteers with town support. A similar committee was overseen by the Olds Institute but has been dormant for several years.

Priorities for the committee are doctor and hospital privileges, mental health supports, access to care, timeliness and availability of health-care provisions and aging in place and transportation.

The committee is expected to be in place by summer and will include health-care providers and representatives from the community, Alberta Health Services, and Olds Mountain View councils.

Olds Mayor Judy Dahl said they expect to put out the call for volunteers and will develop terms of reference for the committee next month.

Dahl said it was important for all communities to work together on issues that affect the region, such as health care.

Alberta Health Services calculates physician requirements on the catchment area (12,000 patients in Olds’s case) and the number of patients each doctor sees.

The town argues the 12,000 calculation does not take into account 3,000 to 4,000 college students and that Olds is a commercial centre for about 35,000 people.

What also is not adequately being taken into account is that Olds has an older population with many retirees and a higher percentage of patients with disabilities largely because of the local Horizon School, which is known for its programs for students with specialized needs.

Olds Hospital and Care Centre’s position as an overflow hospital for patients from elsewhere also puts additional pressure on the local health-care system.

“So our ask of AHS for this is to recalculate the physician need, based on these very real statistics that existing right in front of everyone’s eyes and to realize that long wait lists have a significant effect on the quality of care given,” said Williams.



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