Braid: Regular Albertans always got it, but Tories did not


By Don Braid, Calgary Herald September 17, 2010 Comments (5)
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New Democrat Leader Brian Mason says, "People really want concrete improvements to our health-care system, and they don't want a bunch of airy-fairy, abstract principles."
Photograph by: Ted Rhodes, Calgary Herald, Calgary HeraldFor 12 months, government advisory committee members asked what Albertans want for health care.

Politicians and experts visited 23 communities. They held 29 workshops with 1,300 participants. They received 85 written submissions.

And this is what they learned, says Edmonton MLA Fred Horne, who piloted this enterprise.

"Albertans want a health system that puts people first."

The report elaborates this stunning discovery over two sections and 70 pages. Unsurprisingly, it's called Putting People First.

Refining his theme somewhat, Horne adds: "They (Albertans) want to see government put people first."

We get it, Fred. In fact, regular Albertans always got it.

Not many of us ever imagined that the health system should put anything but people first. So far, we don't expect to line up behind horses and dogs.

But it is true, as Horne's own words obliquely concede, that for a long time the Stelmach regime's health-care system did not put people first.

For nearly two years, it put the system first. The government focused on administration and structure, abolishing regions and shaking out management.

And then, when times suddenly turned tough, the new single-region masters decided to cut services and lay off staff.

The people who are supposed to be first began to stack up like cordwood in emergency wards.

Frustration has grown so deep that those waiting rooms are papered with signs warning that abuse of staff will not be tolerated.

I've never seen a sign saying abuse of patients won't be tolerated either. But that's what patients often endure; neglect by an overworked system that does not put people first.

So it's now a powerful indictment, not just a benign observation, for Albertans to say so forcefully that they want people to come first.

Horne and the rest don't even seem to get the implied insult. They're just so darn proud of themselves for listening.

As part of the effort to convince people they come first, there will now be plenty of fine talk about a health charter, a health act and a health advocate.

It's not a bad idea to define patients' rights, as long as there's some real force behind the words.

But this is almost sure to be purely a paper political exercise.

The study adds instantly that the health system and the government should be immune from lawsuits if rights are violated.

And the advocate will report to the health minister, not to the legislature.

It's the same old Tory pattern than has the child and youth advocate, for one, responsible not to children, but to the political minister in charge.

In general, medical people seem to like the people-first rhetoric. It's no surprise; the report reflects their own frustrated goals and values.

But what Albertans really want, one suspects, is far better performance in little practical matters like getting cancer surgery, or catching a doctor's attention when you're in agony in a waiting room.

New Democrat Leader Brian Mason pretty much nailed it when he said: "People really want concrete improvements to our health-care system, and they don't want a bunch of airy-fairy, abstract principles."

That's what the Tories should get on with, once they absorb the mind-altering new insight that a health-care system should put people first.

Don Braid's Column Appears Regularly In The Herald.

dbraid@theherald.canwest.com

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