Alberta Hospitals Minister Matt Jones says he doesn’t blame doctors for the delay in a core initiative to address extreme pressures in the province’s emergency departments.

Jones said Tuesday he’s hopeful the government and doctors can still find a way to hire the emergency department triage liaison physicians he previously promised for February.

“I’m optimistic we can find a solution. There’s two sides to this, and I take accountability for our side of it,” he said at an unrelated news conference in Calgary.

Jones made the pledge in January in an effort to expedite patients through emergency rooms in the wake of stories of suffering and potentially preventable hospital deaths.

His latest remarks come a day after Premier Danielle Smith was more blunt. When asked for an update on the file, she pointed to the Alberta Medical Association, which represents doctors.

“I would just suggest you ask the AMA,” she said Monday.

AMA president Dr. Brian Wirzba said in a statement in response that weeks of confusion among government ministries and agencies about who is responsible for contract conditions had left negotiations in limbo.

“Contrary to what was stated in a government press conference today, the delay has not been on the AMA’s end and not solely related to the compensation rate,” he wrote Monday.

WATCH | Triage liaison role delayed:

Rollout of triage liaison physician role at Alberta ERs seeing delays

Alberta’s government had previously announced that some doctors would begin working as triage liaison physicians in select emergency rooms starting Feb. 1. But ER doctors at those sites say that hasn’t happened yet.

He added that the government didn’t follow a previous master agreement that outlines how special “alternative relationship plans” are meant to be approved and implemented when it came to triage liaison physicians.

Wirzba said doctors want to take on the jobs, and there is no time to waste in resolving the issue when the public is rightfully concerned about the emergency department “crisis.”

On Tuesday, Jones said he’s met with AMA, who recommended the position, and got a budget of $20 million over two years approved to implement it in nine hospitals across Alberta.

“[I’m] certainly not blaming the AMA,” he said.

When asked twice about the government failing to follow the negotiation process laid out by the master agreement Tuesday, Jones reiterated that the government continues to engage with the AMA.

A late January letter from the AMA’s section of emergency medicine outlined seven sticking points with government’s proposed contract.

They relate to pay rates, administration burdens, and liability protection for the special ER doctors.

Jones said, so far, the government has agreed to one adjustment for after-hours pay.

“We’re happy to work through those, although we can’t work through them immediately. It does take time,” said Jones.

He said a meeting with the doctors’ association is scheduled later this month, with more meetings to follow as part of the negotiation of a broader pay agreement.

Jones did not offer a timeline for when the triage liaison position might finally be implemented.

If both sides can’t come to terms soon, Jones said short-term contingency plans include looking to bring in nurse practitioners, triage nurses, or boosting emergency room budgets.

Alberta’s Opposition NDP has painted the original announcement as a communications exercise rather than an effective strategy to address ER concerns.