Nurses, doctors call on Alberta government to back down from health-care restructuring
CBC
There are growing calls for the Alberta government to put the brakes on its plan to gut Alberta Health Services and restructure health-care delivery in the province.
Front-line workers and unions say they weren't consulted about the plan to hive off health-care provision into four new organizations, and they worry the move will drive health-care workers away and jeopardize patient care.
"I'm very angry," said Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta.
She's concerned the overhaul will spark chaos at a time when hospitals are already under intense strain.
"What we have is a crisis in terms of people capacity [and] bed capacity," said Smith.
"We desperately need to retain the resources we have and recruit new resources. There couldn't have been a worse treatment prescribed."
According to Smith, the union was not consulted on the plan and she asked Health Minister Adriana LaGrange to refrain from doing anything to destabilize Alberta Health Services at a recent meeting.
"How is this in any way going to reduce the times that people have to wait in emergencies because we don't have the beds? We don't have the beds because we don't have the staff."
Restructuring Alberta Health Services (AHS) won't fix what's ailing the province's health system, according to Dr. Jon Meddings, past dean of medicine at the University of Calgary.
"The problem we have is a failing health-care system because of a lack of resources, people, beds, [operating rooms] and primary care. It is not a problem of disorganization of AHS," he said.
"I think it's morally reprehensible to be trying to fix an imaginary problem when we have a real crisis happening right now."
Meddings is calling on the provincial government to rethink its plan.
"Having chaos in Alberta Health Services and our health system in disarray is not going to help retain any physicians," he said, adding new trainees have their pick of provinces to settle in.
"Of all possible times to reorganize a health-care system, this has got to be the worst."