Alberta's population is growing and health workers are leaving

Alberta is booming again, but that boom is raising concerns about the province's health care system.

Alberta's population grew by 194,000 people between October 2022 and October 2023, a 4.3 per cent increase from October 2021 to October 2022 – Alberta's highest population growth since 1980, according to the latest provincial data.

The population growth will come when about 20,000 health workers leave Alberta in 2023, according to Statistics Canada.

Friends of Medicare say Alberta's health workers continue to leave the province or field entirely without any help.

“More than half of doctors are considering leaving the system or leaving the province,” said executive director Chris Galloway.

“We've seen studies like this from nursing unions and others that say more than half of the health care workforce wants to leave health care entirely or leave their jurisdiction because they're burned out.”

Galloway said he hopes the upcoming provincial budget will provide more support for health workers to stop the bleeding.

Without new infrastructure spending and more staff, the crisis will only deepen, he said.

“There is no comprehensive workforce planning. There is no retention plan and there is no recruitment or training for any of them,” Galloway said.

“If we don't do that, we won't keep our facilities open and people will continue to struggle to access primary care, hospital care and other care.”

CTV News reached out to the province for comment on the impact of population growth on the province's health services and infrastructure.

This story will be updated if a response is received.