New Alberta hospital agency to be up and running in the spring, minister says

Alberta’s health minister says the province’s new hospital agency will be operational next spring, months later than expected.

Adriana LaGrange announced Monday that hospitals now run by Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health would answer to the new agency, Acute Care Alberta, once it’s running.

“So many people wait so long to even see a surgeon,” LaGrange said. “I agree and it’s unacceptable and that’s why we’re working really hard, taking a multi-pronged approach, getting more specialists and building more capacity.”

She said the new agency would solely be an oversight body, and Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health would keep their executive teams and boards as well as staff.

The United Conservative Party government is breaking apart Alberta Health Services as part of a major overhaul. It had originally aimed to have all four new organizations operating before 2025.

Recovery Alberta, the first of the four new organizations, started up in September, and Primary Care Alberta was incorporated Monday, LaGrange said.

An operational date for the agency responsible for continuing care has yet to be announced.

LaGrange told reporters the delay for acute care is necessary to ensure it succeeds.

“We want to get this work done right,” she said. “The acute care system is complex, and making sure we set the system up for success now and into the future is critical.”

She said the province is establishing a working group to help with the transition and startup of Acute Care Alberta, and Dr. Chris Eagle, a former president and chief executive of Alberta Health Services, has been hired as an “external special adviser.”

Eagle served as the second-ever leader of Alberta Health Services more than a decade ago. He resigned part way through his five-year contract, saying he thought the agency needed “fresh eyes and fresh energy.”

The Alberta Medical Association, which at times has been critical of the government’s overhaul of the health system, supports Eagle’s appointment, saying on social media that he would provide “significant contributions during this very complicated time and when there is unprecedented instability in our acute care system.”

Before leading Alberta Health Services, Eagle was president of the Calgary Health Region, one of nine regional health authorities that existed before the formation of the provincial agency in 2009.

LaGrange said she doesn’t think any disruptions in care or services would occur during the transition.

“Albertans will continue to access acute care services as they always have, and health-care workers will continue to provide that same exceptional care,” she said.

LaGrange did say at least 500 managerial positions with Alberta Health Services have been eliminated through the restructuring. Some of those positions no longer fall under the agency’s mandate as an acute care service provider and other positions were already vacant, she added.

LaGrange also announced Monday that the province is reconfiguring its health “zone” system and replacing it with “health corridors.”

The zone system is used for planning and service delivery and divides the province into five geographic areas. LaGrange said there would be seven corridors moving forward, based on travel patterns. She said the existing North Zone would be split into two corridors, as well the South Zone.

The minister says this will help streamline things like ambulance response. As for healthcare workers, the minister says, “we will continue to listen to them, listen to their ideas and make improvements on the frontlines. There’s a lot more work that has to be done.”

LaGrange insists Alberta is on track this year to break a record for completed surgeries, and the minister says the province has more doctors and nurses registered than ever before.

But wait times at some ERs were over six hours Monday and the AMA says as many as 800,000 Albertans do not have a family doctor.

“We really haven’t seen any improvements in terms of patients being attached to a family medicine specialist,” said AMA president Dr. Shelley Duggan.

“That’s concerning because we know that’s who’s going to provide a lot of care and not only improve your health but keep you out of hospital.”

Health expert Lorian Hardcastle believes Premier Danielle Smith has failed on a promise to make meaningful improvements for patients within 90 days of taking over.

“I think the premier is trying to make dramatic changes to the system to be seen to be doing something, but I don’t think those changes are either evidence based or are likely to fix the issues we see in the health-care system,” Hardcastle said.

The NDP says the government is “just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic” that is Alberta health care.

“When Danielle Smith said she was going to fix health care I think in people thought she was going to build hospitals and hire staff. Instead, she’s hired new CEOs and created a new logo,” said Sarah Hoffman, Alberta NDP health critic.

–With files from Sean Amato, CityNews