Alberta Health Services has announced it will return to a region-based system of governance this summer.
Alberta Health Services has announced it will return to a region-based system of governance this summer.
It might look like a total switch back to the system that was done away with in 2008, but it’ s not. Alberta Health Services will still be the umbrella organization that runs the whole thing. These regional healthcare districts, which are expected to be in place by Canada Day, will have some degree of autonomy but they won’ t be masters of their own destinies, by any means.
It looks like an acceptable compromise between the old system and the all-under-one-roof approach that’ s been seen in the last seven years. It looks like the best of both worlds and it looks like it will be a good thing-but is it and will it?
As with all organizational changes, there will be unforeseen effects. No transition is ever perfect. Healthcare authorities still need to do their homework and figure out exactly how this compromise will look and operate. How much actual independence and decision-making power will these healthcare districts have? How much influence will municipalities have with the new (and at the same time, old) system in place? These are questions that can be partially answered before the system is actually rolled out, but we won’ t be able to see the full effects of this switch until it’ s done.
It’ s hoped that the change will be for the better. Our MLA, Shayne Saskiw, has said on record that doing away with the region-based system created a massive organization that’ s out of touch with local healthcare needs. He made that comment during an interview with the POST about the Lac La Biche hospital’ s dialysis bus-a talking point in almost every discussion of our local healthcare needs.
It’ s interesting to see this change announced now, at a time when there are already some notable developments underway. Lac La Biche County is creating a regional health foundation and the local hospital’ s medical chief of staff, Dr. Richard Birkill, has said he wants this community to become a regional hub for medical services. And now Alberta Health Services is saying it’ ll change the game in a way that makes it look like there’ ll be less of a top-down approach. How all of these things might come together to accomplish some of our healthcare goals still remains to be seen.
