The province is creating four new organizations as part of its plan to refocus the healthcare system. Premier Danielle Smith announced changes today, which included a new Alberta Health Services board with a new focus.
It will be led by Dr. Dr. Lyle Oberg and will be primarily focused on acute care services. This will include hospitals, cancer care centres, clinical operations, surgeries and emergency medical services.
The four new organizations will focus separately on primary care, continuing care, acute care and mental health and addictions.
Despite the additional organizational bodies, Smith says Alberta healthcare will still be a single system. The announcement placed a focus on protecting jobs throughout the transition and she says to expect “streamlining in the management layers.”
No dollar value was put on the transition and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says it will take time for the changes to have an impact on Albertans seeking care.
“It is going to show that we are looking to change because obviously continuing doing what we are doing is not working – we need to bring in change and we are very focused on making sure that all of these four organizations that we set up are laser focused on improvements, on patient care, on making sure that those that are in the frontlines are able to provide their feedback to us directly and that we are able to implement it,” she says.
The new organizations are set to be in place by fall of 2024.