Frustrated Rocky Mountain House doctors say interference by Alberta Health Services has driven the community's general surgeon to leave — and it's not the first time it's happened.
WATCH: More issues are plaguing rural health care in Alberta. Rocky Mountain House 's general surgeon has resigned and doctors say it could have a ripple effect through the local system if problems aren’t addressed. Erik Bay has the story.changes they say have made the town unappealing for a general surgeon to work in — and as a result, local patients may suffer.
“We essentially have two operating rooms and they’re doing knee replacements in one and that’s caused some stresses on the operating room and what it’s done for looking after our own patients,” Shippelt said, explaining while the orthopedic patients were supposed to be day surgeries, in some cases patients are staying for two or three days to recover — taking up one of the 21 acute care beds in the hospital.
Dr. Kim Rogers is an obstetrician who has been practicing in Rocky Mountain House since 1996 — the longest serving physician in the community — and signed the letter. The doctors said the AHS changes matter because without a robust local surgical program staffed with health-care workers that have maintained their expertise, procedures like C-sections will not be available.
The letter also noted wait times for gastroscopies and colonoscopies, important for ruling out cancers and other conditions, are very long elsewhere in the province.
Alberta Health Alberta Health Services Rocky Mountain House Health Centre Health
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