Private Calgary clinic manager admits end-running system but not to jump queue
Posted Feb 19, 2013 11:52 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY – The manager of a private Calgary health clinic admits it tried to end-run the queue at a public cancer screening centre, but not to get patients first in line.
Leah Tschritter-Pawluck says bookings were made through a doctor at the public centre because the system was so fouled up patients couldn’t even get into the database.
Tschritter-Pawluck is the manager of the Helios Wellness Centre, a private care facility that charges patients $10,000 a year.
Staff at Calgary’s Colon Cancer Screening Centre have testified at Alberta’s queue-jumping inquiry that Helios patients were given priority care at the public clinic and were seen within weeks while everyone else waited years.
Cancer clinic staff have testified that far from being misplaced, Helios files were put in a special folder and checked once a week to make sure they were on the fast track.
One doctor testified he was told that Helios was set up to reward deep-pocket University of Calgary donors, but Tschritter-Pawluck says she’s not aware of that.
