The Alberta government’s ambitious effort to overhaul its health system has been hit on both flanks, with allegations of poor conditions in a privately run elder care centre and an opposition party declaring support for an embattled private surgery clinic.
Thursday’s developments came as a blow to Alberta Health Services, a super-board the province created last year when it merged its 12 health authorities, and put the long-ruling Progressive Conservatives in a battle over health care privatization. They’re being challenged for the first time on the political right to expand privately run, publicly funded care.
The Wildrose Alliance, viewed as a threat to the PC voter base, held a news conference Thursday at Calgary’s Health Resource Centre, Canada’s only privately owned hip- and knee-replacement centre that has overnight patients. The publicly funded, for-profit centre might be closed this fall as the province tries to bring the operations back into publicly owned facilities. The sides are currently locked in a legal battle.
Wildrose leader Danielle Smith slammed the government on Thursday, calling the privately owned, publicly funded system more efficient than the public system. The centre claims its operations require less hospital time, and are therefore cheaper.
“Health Resource Centre is far and away, hands-down, the best when it comes to providing, faster, better, cheaper service,” Ms. Smith said. “What they should try to be doing is replicate the success of HRC.”
Alberta Health Services would say only that it “has honoured all commitments related to the contract” with the private clinic and there has been “no disruption in patient care.”
When asked if it is moving away from privately owned care facilities, a government spokesman declined comment.
“It’s an AHS decision,” another government source said. “It’s not moving towards or moving away from [privatization].”
Meanwhile, the New Democrats slammed last year’s funding cuts to long-term care in the province.
Retired care worker Loretta Raiter, 61, went public with criticisms of the system on Thursday, two months after quitting her job of 27 years at a privately run, publicly funded health clinic in Leduc, south of Edmonton.
“I just couldn’t take it any more,” said Ms. Raiter, adding that staff were overworked and patients did not receive adequate care. Some stayed in full diapers for hours, she said.
“There’s no way you could properly do the work required.”
Ms. Raiter spoke alongside NDP leader Brian Mason at the request of her union.
“That’s so nice of her to do that,” sneered an employee of the long-term care home, known as Salem Manor, where Ms. Raiter once worked. (The facility did not respond to a request for official comment.)
“[Premier] Ed Stelmach’s push to privatize long-term care has grim implications for residents and their caregivers,” Mr. Mason said.
With Wildrose calling for more private care, and the New Democrats urging less, the government stayed tight-lipped.
Health care transformation, including the role of private care, is an ongoing debate country-wide and will be discussed by the Canadian Medical Association at its general council next week.
Alberta Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky was on vacation and unreachable. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the government source distanced the PCs from the battle with Health Resource Centre.
“I would make a distinction between government and AHS,” the source said, adding “ultimately, we will be held accountable for the AHS.”
