Emergency entrance of the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Following the premier’s address to create a new AHS board that will support the transition of the reorganization of Alberta’s health-care system, Friends of Medicare officials say the announcement is mostly “all just politics.”
“The only thing that’s going to change is the stationary. They are going to waste a lot of money on stationary,” said Diane MacNaughton, Chair of Friends of Medicare Palliser Chapter.
MacNaughton expects the new seven-member board won’t have a significant impact on delivery of health care to Albertans.
“It comes down to the nitty gritty of things, a lot of people are going to retain their jobs, titles are going to change, stationary is going to change and a lot of money is going to be spent on that kind of stuff.”
The province says the new AHS board will assist in the reorganization of hospitals and urgent-care centres, clinical operations, surgeries and emergency medical services into a single provincial health-care system.
However, MacNaughton says the real problem with the province’s health-care system lays on the frontlines and says the province needs to hire more doctors and health-care providers.
“If they don’t increase the health-care workers or make their lives better it doesn’t matter who advises and who’s on the boards. That doesn’t matter if they don’t give us more health-care workers and make the doctor’s job easier, it doesn’t matter who’s on boards.”
The province says it is committed to improving wait times for surgeries and in emergency rooms while shortening EMS response times.
“We need to refocus how the system is structured and create a path forward that will get us the outcomes Albertans deserve. This work will take time and it will not be easy.” said Health Minister Adriana LaGrange.
The four provincial organizations dedicated to each sector – acute care, primary care, continuing care and mental health and addiction – will be in place by Fall 2024.
