More telephone town halls on Alberta healthcare restructuring begin Tuesday
Posted Nov 19, 2024 6:43 am.
Last Updated Nov 19, 2024 9:56 am.
The province is continuing work to make changes to its healthcare system and is once again asking Albertans to weigh in.
The first of three upcoming town halls with Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange happened on Tuesday morning.
Questions from attendees on the phone called covered transition timelines, staffing transfers, and the future of healthcare as a whole.
One caller asked the minister to address reports of doctors leaving Alberta in droves.
She claimed there are more doctors in the province than ever before.
“When I became the minister just a year ago, in June 2023, we had roughly 10,600 physicians in the province, we now have 12,126 — that’s a significant gain over the course of the year,” LaGrange said.
Other Albertans expressed concerns about continuing care in the province, specifically about capacity.
LaGrange said around 3,000 more beds will be needed in the near future.
“We, right now, have one in seven Albertans that are 65 years of age and older, that’s going to be one in five in the 20 years,” she said.
The next town halls are scheduled for Nov. 27 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Nov. 28 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Latest government healthcare agency running behind
On Monday, LaGrange gave the update on the latest move the refocus the healthcare system, saying the launch of the new hospital agency is months behind schedule.
Once Acute Care Alberta gets up and running, it will be in charge of hospitals run by Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health.
Acute Care Alberta would run solely as an oversight body, according to LaGrange, and Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health would keep their executive teams, boards, and staff.
LaGrange says that the implementation delay is to make sure the transition is successful.
The United Conservative Government is breaking apart Alberta Health services as part of a major overhaul first announced last November. The original plan was to have the four new divisions fully functioning before 2025.
The first organization, Recovery Alberta, became operational in September, and Primary Care Alberta was incorporated on Monday.
Details, including a launch date, for the continuing care agency, have yet to be announced.
-With files from The Canadian Press
