The province’s plan to streamline Alberta Health Services and create different organizations to oversee acute care, primary care, continuing care, and mental health and addictions fails to make local needs a priority, says a former chair of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Board.
On Wednesday the province announced that advisory boards will be established to provide initial direction and support for the transition into the re-organized provincial system. The four provincial organizations dedicated to each sector will be in place by fall 2024.
City councillor Michael Dawe, who served as an elected Red Deer Regional Hospital Board trustee for 12 years, said the re-structuring was definitely not about returning to a local focus in health care.
“One of the reasons Red Deer got lost in the shuffle in terms of a needed facility was that there wasn’t that local voice reminding them that things at the local hospital were getting pretty desperate,” Dawe said.
He said the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre’s $1.8-billion expansion project may have been announced, but it will still take several years to complete.
“Meanwhile the issues of overcrowding and lack of services will continue. They’re at a critical point now and they’re going to continue to be at a critical point.”
Overall, he was “cautiously negative” about the restructuring plans.
“I’m not sure I see the point of dividing things up by function. There’s so many grey areas between them,” said Dawe about the inter-connectedness of the healthcare sectors.
And Dawe wasn’t sure what impact the re-organization of the provincial health care system will have on the hospital’s expansion.
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In a short statement to the Advocate, Alberta Health said no delays were expected to Red Deer’s hospital expansion.
“Alberta’s government remains committed to improving hospital care in Red Deer and surrounding communities,” said Alberta Health.
Alberta Infrastructure concurred.
“Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre expansion will not be impacted by today’s health care system announcement. We remain committed to completing the project quickly and safely without compromising quality. The project is on time and is currently in the design stage, and we expect design schematics to be complete in the new year,” said Alberta Infrastructure.
Harley Hay, with the Society for Hospital Expansion in Central Alberta (SHECA), said the lack of transparency on the project’s progress continues to be a concern.
“Nobody knows what’s going on. We’re not given a timeline. How hard would it be to just give a simple timeline? We’re just in the dark,” said Hay who joined SHECA six years ago to help push for a cardiac catheterization lab.
However it’s good news that changes are coming to Alberta Health Services, he said.
“I really think AHS was not meeting the needs of the region, especially Red Deer. It was all Edmonton and Calgary-centred. I think it’s a great idea to shake that up.
“But I’m afraid it’s going to muddy the waters. It’s very hard to be optimistic, especially about hospital expansion,” Hay said.
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Included in the province’s plans is restructuring the 12 regional advisory councils to bring forward local priorities and give input on how to improve the system. A new Indigenous advisory council will also be created.
City councillor Bruce Buruma, and a former health advisory council member for Central Alberta, said while the board provided a regional perspective which he appreciated, it wasn’t leading to change.
He said Red Deer and Central Alberta have been short-changed, and hopefully the region will be heard and hold the government responsible for delivering.
“The real evidence is going to be in regards to how do health care outcomes change for Central Alberta. What’s the accessibility to hospital beds? What’s the accessibly relative to emergency medical services or ambulance services?” Buruma said.
As for the hospital expansion project, Buruma agreed that people want to know what’s happening. There’s some optimism in the community, but there’s also some anxiety.
Dr. Peter Bouch, with Red Deer Primary Care Network, said recognizing primary care as one of the four pillars of the health system was important.
“People can’t find primary care physicians. A lot of people are falling through the cracks. This needs to be fixed and the time to fix it is now. Alberta Health, in my opinion, their back is against the wall,” Bouch said.
He said doctors coming out of medical school are not going into family medicine because of the uncertainty and more doctors will be retiring in the coming years.
Doctors need to be able to provide input in the restructuring process, Bouch said.
“We don’t need to be told what to do. We need to be part of the solution.”
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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