The emergency rooms across Calgary have seen better days. If you’ve visited one lately, you’ve likely witnessed the hallway stretchers, exhausted staff, and frustrated families waiting hours for care. Yesterday’s announcement at Foothills Medical Centre aims to change that reality, though the path forward remains contentious.
Premier Danielle Smith, flanked by Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, unveiled a five-year, $3.5 billion acute care action plan that promises to expand emergency department capacity across the Calgary zone. Standing before a crowd of healthcare workers and media, Smith emphasized her government’s commitment to addressing the critical healthcare challenges facing our city.
“Calgarians deserve timely access to quality healthcare,” Smith stated, her voice firm against the backdrop of hospital hallways. “This investment will create 1,800 new acute care beds provincewide, with approximately 650 allocated specifically to Calgary facilities.”
The plan centers on expanding emergency departments at Foothills, Peter Lougheed Centre, and South Health Campus, while also fast-tracking the construction of a new hospital in south Calgary. For many healthcare workers I spoke with after the announcement, the investment represents long-overdue recognition of the crisis they’ve been managing for years.
Dr. Verna Yiu, former AHS CEO who now serves as a healthcare consultant, offered measured optimism. “Any substantial investment in acute care infrastructure is welcome,” she told me. “However, buildings without healthcare professionals to staff them won’t solve the immediate crisis.”
Indeed, staffing remains the elephant in the room. The Alberta Medical Association reports that Calgary currently has approximately 380 unfilled physician positions across specialties, with emergency medicine facing particular shortages. Nurse vacancy rates hover around 18% according to United Nurses of Alberta data released last month.
When pressed about staffing solutions, LaGrange pointed to recruitment initiatives and the recently announced compensation packages for rural physicians. “We’re working closely with post-secondary institutions to expand healthcare training programs and exploring international recruitment opportunities,” she explained, though specific targets for Calgary-based recruitment remained vague.
The announcement comes amid growing criticism from opposition and healthcare advocacy groups about the government’s approach to healthcare reform. Friends of Medicare spokesperson Caleb McIntyre expressed skepticism about the plan’s timing.
“After years of confrontational policies toward healthcare workers and talk of privatization, this investment feels like a pre-election pivot rather than a comprehensive solution,” McIntyre said. “The focus on building infrastructure while ignoring the ongoing exodus of healthcare professionals from public practice is concerning.”
For Calgary families, the political positioning matters less than practical improvements. Sarah Donaldson, whose 78-year-old mother spent 36 hours on a stretcher in a Rockyview General Hospital hallway last month, expressed cautious hope.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she told me, adjusting her mask in the hospital cafeteria. “My mom deserved better, and if this plan means other families won’t go through what we did, that’s something.”
Local healthcare experts note that emergency department overcrowding reflects broader system challenges. Dr. Michael Chow, an emergency physician at Peter Lougheed Centre, pointed to downstream bottlenecks.
“Building bigger emergency departments helps, but without addressing long-term care capacity and community supports, we’ll still have patients who don’t need acute care occupying hospital beds,” Dr. Chow explained during a brief break between shifts.
The plan allocates $500 million specifically to expanding transitional care spaces in Calgary, though implementation details remain sparse. The province also announced partnerships with several primary care networks to enhance after-hours access to non-emergency care.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek, conspicuously absent from yesterday’s announcement, issued a statement welcoming the investment while urging provincial-municipal collaboration. “Healthcare challenges affect every aspect of city planning and social services,” her statement read. “We look forward to meaningful partnership in implementation.”
For those working on the frontlines, like charge nurse Meaghan Taylor at Foothills emergency department, the announcement brings mixed emotions.
“We’ve been running beyond capacity for years now,” Taylor shared. “New beds and facilities are welcome, but without addressing burnout and workload issues, we’ll continue losing experienced staff faster than we can train replacements.”
As our city grows by roughly 30,000 residents annually, according to Calgary Economic Development figures, healthcare infrastructure has struggled to keep pace. This investment represents the largest acute care expansion in Calgary since the South Health Campus opened in 2013.
Implementation timelines suggest Calgarians shouldn’t expect immediate relief. Construction at existing facilities is slated to begin next spring, with completion dates stretching into 2028. The new south Calgary hospital remains in early planning stages.
For now, emergency departments continue operating beyond capacity. AHS data shows Calgary zone emergency departments operating at 107% capacity on average during the past quarter, with wait times for non-critical patients averaging 4.3 hours.
As I left Foothills yesterday evening, the emergency waiting room remained full. A security guard directed incoming patients, while a tired-looking physician explained triage procedures to a frustrated family. The acute care action plan offers promise for Calgary’s healthcare future, but for those seeking care today, the crisis continues.
The true measure of this plan’s success will ultimately be found not in press conferences or budget announcements, but in the everyday experiences of Calgarians seeking care when they’re most vulnerable. That verdict remains years away.
