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Notley promises extra $90M a year to reduce waits in surgery, emergency rooms

Leader says she’d keep funding specialized liaison teams so paramedics can get back to work faster
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NDP Leader Rachel Notley. (The Canadian Press)

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley is promising to spend an additional $90 million a year on health to further reduce surgery wait times if the party is re-elected April 16.

Notley says the money would also go toward getting patients quicker care in emergency wards.

READ MORE: Politicians hit the road for votes in Alberta election campaign

She forecasts almost 40,000 Albertans would get faster cancer, open-heart and cataract surgeries over the next three years.

The NDP plan builds on work already done to reduce wait times, particularly for breast cancer surgery.

Notley says her government would continue to fund specialized EMS liaison teams to care for patients in emergency wards so that ambulance crews could return to the street faster.

United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney has said he wouldn’t cut health budgets, but would look to reduce administrative overlap and explore private care options to improve wait times.

The Canadian Press

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