The provincial government on Tuesday announced a sweeping five-year health-care plan that aims to reduce wait times, unblock emergency beds and improve the experiences of patients and doctors. Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky and Alberta Health Services acting CEO Dr. Chris Eagle jointly released the plan, promising to publish clear goals, empower hospital staff to meet them and provide progress updates to the public every three months.
The plan aims to improve patient satisfaction and boost physician morale. If it is successful, Albertans will see drastic reductions in wait times for emergency care, cancer treatment, hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery. Zwozdesky called it the “most aggressive and the most ambitious plan” in Canada. “This five-year health action plan gives Albertans what they want and what they expect from their publicly funded health care system: better access, shorter waits, safe, quality care and a healthier Alberta,” he said.
“It is about setting the bar high and plotting a course — a new course — to show Albertans how we are going to get there.”The announcement came after a hectic two weeks in Alberta health-care politics. First, dissident MLA Dr. Raj Sherman publicly criticized his own government’s record on health care and got suspended from the Tory caucus. Then, AHS president Stephen Duckett was let go after he brushed off reporters’ questions because he was eating a cookie. Four members of the AHS board have since resigned amid allegations Zwozdesky interfered in the decision to dismiss Duckett.
Finally, a government document leaked to opposition parties Monday suggests the ruling Tories have a two-part plan to delist health services, legalize new kinds of private insurance and allow doctors to provide both public and private care. Zwozdesky said Albertans are tired of delays and distractions and want better health care now.
The 42-page plan announced Monday, titled “Becoming the Best: Alberta’s five-year Health Action Plan,” was developed with input from doctors, nurses, pharmacists and officials from the Health Quality Council of Alberta.
Key to the plan are 50 “performance measures” that set targets for each of the next five years. The targets are divided into five broad areas: quality of services, population health, patient experience, health system sustainability and governance and community engagement. Twenty-five of the 50 goals fall under “quality of health services,” which includes emergency room wait times, surgeries and cancer treatment.
The province wants nine in 10 seriously ill patients to be treated or admitted to hospital in under eight hours — currently, roughly three in 10 patients meet that criteria at the 15 busiest emergency rooms.
Cancer patients should have their first appointment with a radiation oncologist within two weeks, the government says, down from the current eight-week wait at Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute. Similarly, radiation should start four weeks after the prescription is issued, down from the current six. The goals also include major reductions in wait times for hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery.
Eagle said the document provides guidelines for where resources should go. He said the targets can be achieved because of the system’s dedicated health workers and the government’s guarantee of five years of funding increases. The plan also sets out a series of short- and medium-term goals.
By March 2012, the province expects to add 360 hospital beds, perform 3,000 more surgeries, and add 2,300 additional continuing care beds. By March 2015, the province expects to add an additional 3,000 continuing care beds and build new radiation therapy centres in Red Deer and Grande Prairie.
NDP Leader Brian Mason said the plan contains some good elements, but he has no faith in the Tory government’s ability to carry them out. “These five-year plans are good for about a year and a half, which is when the next election is. Anything they promise today will be meaningless.”
Liberal Leader David Swann and Dr. John Cowell, head of the health quality council, both called for tough consequences for health leaders if the plan’s targets aren’t met.
“It’s not about bonuses for good performance,” Swann said. “People at the top have to know their jobs are on the line.”Sherman criticized the five-year time frame it will take for the health system to reach emergency room wait targets. He noted that by 2012 — the time of the next election — the goal is for 60 per cent of seriously ill
patients to be admitted to hospital within eight hours. “It’s easy to succeed when you set the bar so low. Albertans should expect more with how much they spend, ” he said. “This means not much is going to change at the Foothills, Royal Alex or the U of A hospitals on which the whole province depends.”
The action plan was announced on the same day the Stelmach government passed its controversial Alberta Health Act and defeated an amendment proposed by Sherman that called for emergency room wait times to be enshrined in law.
Sherman’s proposal had broad support from opposition MLAs but got just a single vote from a Conservative member: St. Albert MLA Ken Allred. “I think what it means is that the government members chickened out,” Sherman said.