In another reminder of the brutal cuts and hospital closures of the 1990s, on September 16 Alberta Health Services announced the closure of "up to" 300 acute hospital beds in Calgary and Edmonton.
"They announced the closure of effectively a full hospital's worth of beds, which is going to have a significant impact on patients," UNA President Heather Smith says.
AHS announced it was expanding with 800 "new" community spaces for 350 patients waiting in acute care beds and for the 150 mental health patients to be moved from Alberta Hospital Edmonton.
"Our hospitals are overflowing with patients in stretchers in the Emergency departments and on "overcapacity beds" in corridors now. Moving out patients who can go to long-term care should help with our capacity problems, free up beds. But instead it is a straight cut and reduction in the number of beds, beds Albertans really do need," Heather Smith pointed out.
Heather Smith acknowledged the importance of expanding long-term and community care to move patients who no longer need acute care. She also pointed out that most of the "new" community spaces will be assisted living, many of them for-profit facilities, where patients and their families will be forced to pay more for the care and supplies they would have been provided in a nursing home.
She also said assisted living beds would likely not be sufficient care for many or most of the patients waiting in acute beds for placement.
AHS CEO Stephen Duckett would not say how many staff positions would be eliminated or specifically how $51 million would be saved when he was grilled by reporters at the news conference.
At the conference Duckett was forced to admit that many of the 800 new "community beds" had been announced earlier, like the 200 beds at the new Garrison Green facility in Calgary.
"I'm no health economist, but it seems to me that re-announcing "new" beds that were announced before and are already slated to open is NOT an expansion of capacity," says UNA Director of Labour Relations David Harrigan.
David Harrigan also deplored the minimal and manipulative information AHS released about the changes.
"They are deliberately trying to hide from Albertans the fact they are shrinking our already overstretched hospital system," he said.
"All hospital beds will continue to be staffed until new capacity comes on stream." was the wording of the AHS news release, but AHS officials and Duckett confirmed that up to 300 beds would be unstaffed, and closed.
In an earlier briefing meeting with AHS officials, David Harrigan asked repeatedly what the announcement would mean in terms of staff reductions. AHS officials said they did not know.
Heather Smith said there must be a fiscal projection. If they calculate how much money they are gong to save, $51 million, by closing beds, they must have staffing projections too, she said.
Duckett also said the beds could be re-opened for "surge capacity" during the pandemic.
"They are going to let the nurses and staff go, and then expect them to come running back for a temporary job during a pandemic?" asked Heather Smith. "That's not real planning." |
