(CHAT file photo)

By Alex McCuaig

AHS restructuring

AHS management spared in review report, not so for frontline workers

Feb 3, 2020 | 5:46 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Management positions at Alberta Health Services have long been a target of criticism by Wildrose and UCP opposition MLAs. But the report issued Monday from a review of AHS commissioned by Alberta’s UCP government after last year’s election has made only a few recommendations regarding the health service’s management structure.

When it comes to frontline staff, however, there is no shortage of recommendations to find cost savings.

Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes says he still believes there is a need to look for savings within AHS management.

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“Cypress-Medicine Hatters continually tell me managers managing managers is the problem and they want more of their hard-earned tax dollars to go to the front lines,” said Barnes.

Though, Barnes found the comments in the report pertaining to the sustainability of health services in the province is reflective of an issue which needs addressing.

“(The health care budget is) 45 per cent of our budget now and unfortunately, as the world ages, it’s going to get tougher and tougher to bring quality health care at a fair price,” he said.

But aside from the first sentence of the report which praises Alberta’s health care model, United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith said there are few aspects of the review which are agreeable.

And the focus on recommendations regarding nursing staff are off base, especially when it comes to changing aspects of current contracts or altering nurse to patient ratios.

“What is appropriate in terms of patient safety and staff safety when it comes to both the number and mix of staff are decisions that should be made by clinicians and not accountants,” Smith told CHAT News. “And being told, as we have been in Alberta, that because another jurisdiction does it cheaper, doesn’t mean they are getting better outcomes.”

The report also is making wide ranging recommendations regarding contracting out support services, including food, laundry, security and housekeeping services.