Province reaches new pay deal for resident physicians in Alberta

Alberta's Health Minister Adriana LaGrange has announced a tentative four-year deal with resident physicians.

The agreement could mean wage increases of three per cent in each of the first two years, and two per cent in each of the last two years.

Resident physicians are doctors who have graduated from medical school but are completing post-graduate training in a residency program to get their licence to practise medicine.

The parties to the agreement include the Alberta's government, Alberta Health Services (AHS), the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary and the Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta (PARA).

Adriana LaGrange, minister of health for Alberta, said the government is grateful for the hard work resident physicians do as they complete their training.

"We are pleased to see that a new agreement has been reached and look forward to more physicians calling Alberta home," she said in a release Wednesday. 

The president of PARA said the agreement will help make Alberta an attractive destination for new doctors. 

"By enhancing compensation, training and working conditions, we ensure Alberta recruits and retains the brightest medical talent to serve our communities and shape the future of health care," said Dr. Pauwlina Cyca.

The announcement comes as contract negotiations with the United Nurses of Alberta may reach an impasse that could lead to a strike in a matter of weeks.

The United Nurses of Alberta, which represents more than 30,000 nurses, is seeking 30 per cent pay raises spread over two years while the Alberta government's standing offer is 7.5 per cent over four years.

'Already in the storm'

Meanwhile, family doctors are waiting for a new compensation deal, which is now delayed, that they say is needed to keep their clinics afloat.

Dr. Shelley Duggan, president of the Alberta Medical Association, told The Canadian Press that Wednesday's announcement of a resident doctor deal is a positive and necessary step.

However, she said it won't solve immediate challenges, including that an estimated 800,000 Albertans don't have a primary care provider and might be forced to access care through hospital emergency rooms.

Duggan said if resident physicians are seeing that their teachers and mentors are not planning to stay in Alberta because family medicine isn't valued and supported, it's going to be hard to convince them to stay.

Inside Edmonton hospitals, she said, family medicine wards have been at 155 per cent capacity, and general internal medicine at 135 per cent in recent days.

"We're already in the storm and we haven't got to respiratory virus season yet," Duggan said.

She added that the province needs a robust and vocal vaccination campaign and to make shots available across health-care providers, including doctors' offices.

LaGrange said vaccinations will be available at more than 2,000 locations starting next week, but clinics represent only five per cent of overall immunizations.

To deal with capacity issues, LaGrange said Alberta Health Services is working to open surge beds, is able to move physicians from other areas of the province, and could increase hours for part-time nurses and hire private agency nurses.

In a statement, NDP Opposition health critic Sarah Hoffman agreed the resident agreement is good news for doctors, but said the government needs to do more to keep them long term.

"Unless this UCP government stops stalling and signs the agreement they have already reached with (family) physicians, many will go to other provinces as soon as they complete their residency," she said.