Last week, the Alberta government delivered doctors and nurses in the province yet another unnerving message. Adriana LaGrange, the Health Minister, announced that Acute Care Alberta will now only be ready to launch in the spring.
This is a sudden change from the previous plan. It was initially scheduled to launch this fall.
Acute Care Alberta is one of four new agencies that will replace Alberta Health Services in the government’s restructuring of Alberta’s healthcare system. The new agency will be in charge of Alberta’s hospitals.
Even before the delay was announced, healthcare workers were uneasy about the government’s restructuring of Alberta healthcare. Sandra Azocar, Vice President of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), told the Edmonton Journal, “We don’t have enough doctors; we don’t have enough frontline workers right now to be able to provide those services.”
“It’s creating four new levels of bureaucracy within our health care system, potentially different ministries, and how all these four agencies will communicate without having people fall through the cracks will be a task in itself,” Azocar said.
Delaying Acute Care Alberta’s opening doesn’t help build a positive relationship between the Ministry of Health and healthcare workers.
One nurse, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of losing her job, spoke to CTV News about her worries. “We have no idea what that means for us. Nobody has told us,” she said of the restructuring.
What’s Being Restructured?
Last year, Danielle Smith’s government announced its plans to divide Alberta Health Services into four different agencies, each dedicated to a specific area of care. The government has slowly been rolling out the changes.
Recovery Alberta, responsible for mental health and addiction services, launched on September 1st. Primary Care Alberta was launched in November. The final agency, Continuing Care Alberta, has yet to set a launch date.
While Alberta spends the fifth-most per person on healthcare of any province in Canada, it is the second least efficient with its money. Only Newfoundland and Labrador scored worse than Alberta.
A change needed to happen. Public health care money has been used inefficiently for years, and some patients have fallen through the cracks. However, it’s unclear whether the changes that the UCP is making will improve the quality of care that Albertans receive.
The restructuring comes as more healthcare workers are leaving the province. In 2023 alone, 20,000 professionals left the province.
Friends of Medicare executive director Chris Galloway says the problem is due to poor structural-level planning. “There’s no comprehensive workforce planning. There’s no retention plan, and there’s no recruitment or training attached to any of that,” he told CTV News Calgary.
What’s the Best Way to Spend?
Smith agrees that Alberta’s healthcare system needs fixing. She’s spoken openly about how she hopes to shake it up. She’s criticized Alberta Health Services, describing it as a monopoly that encourages doctors and nurses to be too comfortable on the job. This, she says, leads to poor-quality service.
“When you’re dealing with a monopoly,” Smith said at a town hall meeting in Drayton Valley, “and they believe that they can deliver any type of care, and there are no consequences, they’re going to continue to deliver bad service.” According to Smith, dividing Alberta Health Services up will eliminate the monopoly.
Smith is acting as a strict parent would. She’s saying that she sees fear as a great way to encourage hospitals to improve their services.
This may work some of the time. But for those of us with children, fear often does not work as a parenting tactic. Kids don’t act their best when they are fearful, and they don’t feel respected.
This is especially true for professionals who have studied for years to work in their current roles, and many of whom see working in healthcare as their life’s mission.
No one can achieve their life’s mission if they are afraid for their jobs.
What’s more, Alberta healthcare workers are already burnt out after working during the COVID years. With more workers quitting or moving to other provinces, the burden on those who stay only increases. Smith’s plan to add fear to the equation has a high chance of worsening the problem.
“The government’s policies are driving health care workers away from their professions and away from Alberta,” said the AUPE Vice President Sandra Azocar in a media release.
So, will the restructuring add to or solve the problem? That remains to be seen… but delays in rolling out the restructuring have many Albertans worried about the continued deterioration of healthcare in one of Canada’s wealthiest provinces per capita.
