EDMONTON — Alberta Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice says if he becomes premier, he will move toward decentralizing the health system to deliver better care.
Prentice told an audience in Calgary that he will provide more support to local advisory health councils and make other changes to allow them to better serve the unique needs of their regions.
But Prentice says he won’t abandon the current centralized Alberta Health Services superboard.
He says the system could not handle another such drastic overhaul.
Six years ago, the province collapsed the health regions and created the centralized model, saying it would streamline work, reduce costs, and improve medial care.
Instead, the AHS has experienced high turnover in the executive suite, administrative conflict and confusion, long wait lists for surgery, and some doctors being abused or threatened for speaking out.