Smith moving ahead with promised AHS overhaul based on directions to health minister
Premier Danielle Smith has outlined her expectations for health care in Alberta in a mandate letter to the health minister.
In the letter, Smith outlined 11 commitments for Minister Jason Copping, including overhauling Alberta Health Services, improving senior care and addressing health-care staffing issues.
Copping said his first focus will be to improve EMS response times, decrease surgical backlogs and cut emergency room wait times, though he added that the United Conservative government has already been working to improve in those areas.
Copping said the UCP also wants to localize health-related decisions and bring back a governance model like the one that was moved away from in 2008.
Things like purchasing, standards of care, funding and human resource policies make sense to be centralized, Copping said, but decisions on how to deliver care should be made locally.
"In my mandate letter, (what) the premier has indicated to me is to push down the operational decision-making to be able to ensure that we can drive innovation at the local level," he told CTV News Edmonton.
The letter also included a mandate to create a task force of medical professionals to review the last few years of health information and create recommendations on how to manage future pandemics.
Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, said the mandate letter lacked substance, focus and leadership.
"I'm highly concerned with what I see in (the letter)," Parker said. "Our system is in collapse where we have our pediatric hospitals to capacity today, and their focus is on deconstructing a health care system."
"What we should have been doing is retaining the folks we have, and recruiting by creating a system people actually want to be part of – this mandate letter is not it."
NDP health critic David Shepherd also criticized the plans outlined in the letter, and said an overhaul will only further destabilize the health care system and amplify existing problems.
"This plan from Danielle Smith to upend and overturn, restructure our entire health system in 90 days, in the midst of a current crisis – when parents are waiting hours, sometimes outside in the cold, for their children to receive care – is preposterous."
"This is going to create more chaos, this is going to further demoralize health care workers, this is going to make it even more difficult for Albertans to access care."
The health mandate letter can be found online, as well as all of the mandate letters Smith has sent to government, the last of which were released on Wednesday.
- Re-index AISH, Premier Smith directs minister of social services
- Alberta sovereignty act, protection for the unvaccinated part of Shandro's mandate
- Premier Smith tells minister to 'launch an Alberta Police Service' despite higher costs
- Better campgrounds, more EV chargers: What Premier Smith wants her ministers to focus on
- New Alberta parks ministry to focus on opening new campgrounds and tourism
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Saif Kaisar
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
'We have laws': Premier Smith says police action justified in Calgary
The actions, including the decision to use non-lethal force, to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters from the University of Calgary campus were justified, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday.
Barron Trump declines to serve as an RNC delegate
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has declined to serve as a delegate at this summer’s Republican National Convention, according to a senior Trump campaign adviser and a statement from Melania Trump's office.