NDP Demands Action in Wake of Red Deer Hospital Diverting All Emergency Surgeries

Alberta’s NDP is again demanding a real plan to get tens of thousands of people the surgeries they need in the wake of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre taking the unprecedented step of diverting all operations away from the city.

According the media reports, this is the first time Red Deer has been forced to send all patients requiring emergency surgery to Edmonton or Calgary. Doctors quoted in local reports say the decision was made due to overcapacity in the hospital.

Red Deer is Alberta’s third-largest city and it now has no ability to deliver emergency care to Albertans. This is another massive failure by the UCP Government to support public healthcare. We know there are tens of thousands of Albertans waiting on surgeries and the Government promised them a real plan to clear that backlog last week — they broke that promise. Now, we see that not even emergency surgeries can be carried out in Red Deer. The UCP’s glaring incompetence is going to cost lives.- NDP Health Critic David Shepherd

The UCP has also stalled on seeing through a much-need hospital expansion in Red Deer. Premier Jason Kenney promised to see through the project but to date only a business case report has been completed.