On June 12, Alberta Minister of Health Fred Horn terminated the appointments of the Alberta Health Services board of directors, effective immediately.
“Albertans elected us to ensure government - and its agencies and boards - live within their means,” Horne said in a statement last week.
“At a time when we’ve asked our front-line providers, including doctors, teachers, and support workers to take freezes in pay, the unwillingness of the AHS’ Board to reconsider its decision on pay-at-risk is completely out-of-step with the government’s priorities - and more importantly, the priorities of Albertans.”
The firing comes after an incident that saw the AHS board refute the direction of Horne to withhold $3.2 million in performance pay to AHS executives, in a time where cuts to Alberta’s healthcare system have been on the rise.
St. Paul-Two Hills-Lac La Biche Wildrose MLA Shayne Saskiw said he felt the AHS executives were out of line to take bonuses in a time with so many cuts to healthcare.
“Obviously all Albertans were outraged by the fact that this Premier and this government were allowing senior high-level executives to get massive bonuses while at the same time cutting frontline nurses and other staff, and cutting care for seniors,” Saskiw said. “We spend more per capita on health than any other province, yet we have one of the worst healthcare systems in Canada.”
Saskiw said he is highly discouraged by the actions of the AHS board, and while he said he agrees that they should have been fired, he also believes it is not enough.
“We do believe that the whole AHS board should have been fired, but at the same time just replacing it with another one isn’t going to solve the underlying problems,” he said, pointing to the current issue of food quality in hospitals as a result of the centralized board system.
“We would like to go back to a decentralized healthcare model. Right now, an example of this is the food in the hospitals, it’s centralized decision-making coming out of Edmonton instead of having local people make the decisions on the ground. Those are the people who best know their area and who can make the most efficient decisions possible.”
Horne has now hired Janet Davidson, a nurse with over 30 years of direct experience in health care administration and governance in Canada, to act in place of the board.
“As the Premier announced (on June 11), we have committed to a review of the agencies, boards and commissions which serve government to ensure Albertans can have trust and confidence in decisions made on their behalf,” said Horne. “This process begins today, starts with AHS and will be led by Ms. Davidson among her other responsibilities. I want to assure all Albertans - particularly AHS staff - that you will have the opportunity for meaningful input.”
Saskiw added that while Horne plans to address the issues at hand, he feels it will likely result in another board being put into place.
“At this point, the health minister is indicating that he’s going to hire someone to do a complete organizational review, which is frankly alarming given the fact that this board has been in place for several years. My guess is that this government under the PCs, they do like centralization and controlling from a central body all the decisions,” he said, adding that he will continue to strive for the change to a decentralized model.
