New tool shows AHS bed closures or service reductions across Alberta
Alberta Health Services (AHS) created a new tool for residents to check short-term and temporary bed reductions online.
In a news release sent Friday, AHS said it launched a new webpage that will be regularly updated to show emergency or acute care service reductions.
“Patient care is available at all AHS facilities,” AHS said in a statement. “The vast majority of all beds remain open and available for patient care.”
AHS has 8,500 acute care beds and 1,200 emergency department care spaces throughout the province.
According to the health authority, 98.2 per cent of those beds and 97.1 per cent of the care spaces are open and available for patients, respectively.
“Temporary bed closures are not uncommon for AHS or any other health system, especially in the summer – when staffing levels are historically lower as our healthcare workers tend to take more personal time or vacation,” AHS added.
“The system is constantly dynamic, and we manage beds on an hourly and daily basis, depending on patient need, staffing levels, acuity of patients, and may other factors.”
The new website can be found here.
- Shandro says NDP exaggerating health-care shortages, Notley calls bed closures 'very real'
- Hospital staff shortages continue: Grey Nuns in Edmonton faces reduced service levels
- Doctors shortage growing: Locum requests surging in rural hospitals and clinics
Previously, AHS would send press releases announcing some service reductions or bed closures.
According to the new webpage, 26 AHS facilities are experiencing temporary bed closures or service disruptions, including Lacombe, Hanna, Rocky Mountain House, Beaverlodge, Westlock, Lac La Biche, and St. Paul.
Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital acute care and emergency department are both facing bed reductions, as well as the University of Alberta surgery department – where two of 14 operating rooms are closed due to a “temporary lack of physician coverage.”
The official opposition had been calling on the government to create such a tool. On July 22, Health Minister Tyler Shandro had called the NDP’s demand for public data about service reductions and closures a “ruse” for political gain.
AHS has reassured Albertans multiple times that acute care bed and emergency department service level disruptions are part of staff taking seasonal vacations. The opposition have been concerned that appropriate levels of care would not be accessible to all Albertans, especially in rural areas.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit natural gas levies to the federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer filled with relief and grief following acquittal in death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
North Bay doctor accused of assaulting patient, threatening another
A North Bay doctor is facing charges after allegedly assaulting a patient with a weapon and threatening another person at the hospital, police say.