'It's not substantial': ER doctor says new health-care leadership does nothing to solve current crisis in acute care

A treatment room in the emergency department at Peter Lougheed hospital is pictured in, Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. (Jeff McIntosh)

Alberta has named two temporary chief executive officers in the shifting acute health-care system, a move one Edmonton emergency medicine specialist says does little to address the current crisis in front-line medicine.

In a Wednesday press release, the province announced deputy minister of Alberta Health Andre Tremblay has been appointed interim president and CEO of Alberta Health Services (AHS).

Dr. Chris Eagle, president and CEO of AHS from 2010 to 2013, was also announced as the chair and interim president and CEO of Acute Care Alberta, one of the four new health agencies replacing AHS.

The province said the two appointments will bring in "the expertise and experience needed to continue refocusing the health-care system."

Alberta Medical Association section of emergency medicine president Dr. Warren Thirsk called the announcement "the appearance of change" without any real progress on the front lines.

"These people are apparently temporary, so this is the start of the restructuring?" he said. "It's not substantial for those of us on the front lines.

"Every patient I saw today who waited, every patient that I had trouble accessing hospital beds or other care resources for, this announcement did not affect them in any way. It did not help them.

"It did not address the deficits in care. I still have a hallway full of patients waiting to be seen."

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Doctors have been calling attention to the acute care crisis for years. So far in 2025, there have been six partial or complete closures of emergency departments in Alberta.

Thirsk said the situation worsens each day, with understaffing and a lack of beds forcing patients to spend hours lined up in hallways.

"I was in the less-acute side of the emergency department today, so these patients were able to wait 12 to 16 hours, but I don't know that anyone can justify that wait that they had," he said.

Acute Care Alberta will eventually oversee the delivery of acute and urgent care, including cancer care and EMS.

The province said it is expected to be operational "later this spring," and claims it will speed up access to quality care and lower emergency room wait times.

Thirsk said he and other front-line workers are ready to engage with any leadership on the current care deficits. But he worries the new acute care system may not be the solution it's being touted as.

"I am concerned that this shuffling is allowing budget cuts that we know are happening to continue to happen, but without scrutiny and without oversight, because they're now lost between four new (agencies)," he said.

"My biggest fear is that this will come with a real budget cut when it comes to the actual dollars spent on patients and Albertans who are sick."

CTV News Edmonton has reached out to the health minister's office and is awaiting a response.