Stephen Duckett’s candid comments about Alberta’s health care system
Posted Mar 3, 2012 8:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
As he prepares to return to his native Australia, the former chief executive of Alberta Health Services is offering some parting comments about the state of health care in this province.
Stephen Duckett tells the Calgary Herald little has changed since he first took over the portfolio in 2009. Duckett lost his job as the CEO of AHS in late 2010 after his infamous “cookie” comment during a media briefing.
His observations come in the wake of Premier Alison Redford calling a public inquiry into allegations about improprieties in the health-care system, including political interference and queue jumping.
But Duckett says “The whole system needs fixing,” adding his fear is it’s not going to happen, “So Albertans will continue to experience the poor care they’re getting, the poor system they’ve got now.”
Duckett muses: “Why are we so expensive? “Why is performance so poor?” And, “Why is the management so bad over the last decade?”
The cost of health care in Alberta is no small tab. It’s a $16-billion system.
