Alberta’s health minister says patients and Alberta Health Services employees should notice little change as the government continues to make adjustments to the health system.
Among the changes announced by health minister Adriana LaGrange on Nov. 18, include splitting up the health “zone” system that’s currently in place and replacing it with “health corridors.”
LaGrange says she is taking a more regional approach to health planning, which will split up the current north and south health zones into two east and west divisions.
Instead of Calgary, Edmonton, South, North, and Central Zones, there will be North-West, North-East, Edmonton, Central, Calgary, South-West, and South-East health corridors.
An emailed statement to 94.5 Rewind Radio News from the Ministry of Health says Rocky Mountain House will remain in the central corridor.
The United Conservative Party (UCP) government is breaking apart Alberta Health Services as part of a major overhaul and had originally aimed to have four new organizations replacing the agency up and running before 2025.
Recovery Alberta, the first of the four new organizations, started up in September, and Primary Care Alberta was incorporated on Monday, LaGrange said.
LaGrange says Acute Care Alberta should be operational early next year. She added that “at least 500” Alberta Health Services managerial positions have been eliminated through the restructuring, although she said some of those positions no longer fall under the agency’s mandate as an acute care service provider and other positions were already vacant.
Rocky Mountain House Health Care Centre (Jordan Rein/94.5 Rewind Radio)
Alberta’s rural health care system is also a focus of the plan, which can be seen here.
It says Alberta Health recently created a new branch to support and prioritize the health care needs of rural and remote communities:
“A refocused health care system will address the loss of rural physicians, nurses, and other health professionals by working with stakeholders and listening to Albertans. Together, we will identify strategies and develop solutions to improve Alberta’s capacity to train a future health care workforce.”
LaGrange said the province is establishing a working group to help with the transition and startup of Acute Care Alberta. Dr. Chris Eagle, former president and chief executive of Alberta Health Services, has been hired as an “external special adviser.”
Eagle served as the second leader of Alberta Health Services more than a decade ago but resigned partway through his five-year contract because he thought the agency needed “fresh eyes and fresh energy.”
Before leading Alberta Health Services, Eagle was the president of the Calgary Health Region, one of the nine regional health authorities that existed before the formation of the provincial agency in 2009.
The Minister announced Monday that hospitals now run by Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health will answer to the new agency, Acute Care Alberta, once it’s running.
–with files from The Canadian Press
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