UNITED NURSES OF ALBERTA
Media Release For Immediate Release Friday, August 14, 2009
AHS planning big reduction in mental health beds
Edmonton – Alberta Health Services (AHS) today announced it is accelerating its “move to community-based mental health care" but it actually is a disguised cut in the hospital bed capacity in our health system.
“Because their estimates are so vague, these announcements are raising major concerns,” says UNA Director of Labour Relations David Harrigan.
“The most specific statement from AHS was: ‘parts of AHE will remain open.’ This is an absolute lack of transparency and refusal to explain what the real plans are. It puts fear in the employees, patients and families,” David Harrigan says.
The nurses at Alberta Hospital Edmonton were told the change could affect anywhere from 4 to 12 of the nineteen units at the hospital and anywhere from 100 to more than 250 patients.
"It's a reduction in the bed capacity in our system and in a crucial part of our system, the mental health part,” David Harrigan says. “They are announcing bed closures now, but are certainly not announcing where they will be opening new beds to house these patients."
"We've seen this exercise with community living before, beds closed and mental health patients moved out into the community so they can sleep downtown on the streets," says David Harrigan.
This is clearly a cost cutting measure, a cut in services. A briefing document from AHS in a Q and A form, asks: “Is this a cost cutting measure?” and responds with the statement: “AHS is facing a significant budget shortfall which must be addressed.” The document is attached.
AHE is currently operating with more patients than it officially has room for. Patients are sometimes put in "overcapacity" beds when no other hospital or service can take them.
"We have to take the unstable people when no else can take them, there's no where else for them to go," says one nurse from the hospital.
Nurses point out that the in-patient treatment for unstable mental health patients cannot be replaced by community care.
"We provide a necessary service, but it is only one part of the spectrum," says one community mental health nurse. "The in-patient assessment and treatment is crucial for many patients. The idea that they would consider doing this is a travesty. The expertise that they have at Alberta Hospital Edmonton is second to none. You cannot do what they do in the community. Everything that could be transferred to community already has been," she says.
“Once again, late on a Friday afternoon, as with the budget and the helipads, Alberta Health Services announces its bad news in the most opaque manner possible,” says David Harrigan.
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