The Grande Prairie Alberta UCP candidates asked the NDP to stop fear mongering about healthcare in the area.. Smith and healthcareSmith and healthcare .“Let’s be clear, when the NDP was in charge, the Grande Prairie hospital was subject to constant delays and hundreds of millions of cost overruns,” said Alberta UCP candidates Nolan Dyck (Grande Prairie) and Ron Wiebe (Grande Prairie-Wapiti) in a Thursday statement..Dyck and Wiebe said local contractors were not being paid, and families were not receiving the healthcare they deserve. They added the NDP “couldn’t get it done for Grande Prairie.” .The UCP got the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital (GPRH) across the finish line. The GPRH opened its doors in 2021, and families in the area are benefiting from one of the newest, most technologically-advanced hospitals in Alberta..The UCP candidates went on to say the party is taking bold action to fix the healthcare system by lowering wait times for emergency services, clearing surgical backlogs, and restoring frontline decision-making. Under the NDP, they said Alberta “only saw wait times go up, while management ranks grew.” .“The NDP failed Grande Prairie,” they said..“The UCP is getting it done.” .During a campaign stop in Grande Prairie Thursday, the NDP pledged to ensure one million people who need a family doctor get one..“Today, bad UCP decisions have chased doctors out of Alberta, with no doctors taking new patients in Lethbridge, Red Deer, and the Bow Valley,” it said..“Physicians and health professionals are counting on Alberta’s leaders to re-imagine family healthcare, so doctors spend less time doing paperwork and more time caring for you.”.The Alberta government worked to offer physician training in Lethbridge and Grande Prairie to help bring doctors to the province in January..READ MORE: UCP government working to offer physician training in Lethbridge and Grande Prairie.It will be spending $1 million to explore ways which regional post-secondary institutions, such as the University of Lethbridge and Northwestern Polytechnic, can deliver medical education outside of Edmonton and Calgary..“Partnering with Alberta’s two medical schools and institutions in northern and southern Alberta to train doctors locally is the best path to ensuring we meet rural needs,” said Alberta Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.
