Health brass say they didn’t speed access
Inquiry hears waiting lists weren’t altered
Astring of high-profile witnesses — including former health minister Ron Liepert and two ex-government relations health executives — testified Tuesday they never helped VIPs receive preferential treatment inside the province’s medical system.
The Health Services Preferential Access Inquiry wrapped up its sixth day of public hearings in Edmonton with no new cases of queue-jumping, but plenty of attention surrounding the interaction between Alberta’s politicians and the $16-billion health system.
Liepert, Alberta’s health minister in 2008 and 2009, testified before Commissioner John Vertes that he’d heard allegations and rumours about preferential treatment, but said he didn’t feel it was his job to call for further investigation — and didn’t believe any of them were ever proven.
The former Calgary-West MLA took the stand Tuesday along with two former government relations officials, Lynn Redford and Brian Hlus, and Alberta Health Services chief of staff Patti Grier.
“I’ve not been in involved in adjusting wait lists of any sort, nor have I been involved in expediting access for anyone,” said Lynn Redford, Premier Alison Redford’s sister and a current superboard executive.
Hlus, who testified he did not contact specialists or hospital staff to make waiting list adjustments, also said he “never heard” of Edmonton’s Capital Health executives ordering special treatment for prominent patients.
Liepert, meanwhile, testified a queue-jumping policy wasn’t something that would have “ever even crossed my mind,” saying amid the many pressing issues from his time as health minister, it “didn’t even hit the radar.”
He revealed, however, his office was flooded with angry letters after the Herald reported Calgary Flames hockey players and their family were fast-tracked H1N1 flu vaccines in 2009.
Liepert said he was “shocked” to learn pro hockey players got their flu shots in specially arranged clinics while the public waited in long lines.
“It just wasn’t part of the protocol. I was just really surprised that had happened,” said Liepert, who added he stood in public lines to get his own shot.
Redford and Hlus each testified their past jobs included fielding calls from MLAs to provide information about the medical system.
Redford held a number of positions at the former Calgary Health Region (CHR) and Alberta Health Services, where she still works as provincial officer on executive special projects. Much of the questioning Tuesday revolved around her time as a CHR government relations director, a position she held until the spring of 2008.
Redford said she worked with constituency offices and MLAs in Calgary and her role “primarily was to just provide information to them.”
Redford testified she often directed requests for information to the patient representative offices or to other medical officials who could answer questions, noting she didn’t have a clinical background herself.
She also hosted information sessions for constituency assistants, addressing things such as how access to long-term care worked and how waiting lists worked.
A one-time executive assistant to former health minister Gary Mar, Redford testified she didn’t receive calls from MLAs or their offices regarding care for VIPs while working for the region.
Further, Redford said she has “no knowledge” of any examples or incidents in which someone has asked another person for preferential or expedited care in the medical system.
Asked by inquiry council about a May 2009 AHS memo stating “it is not uncommon” for health executives to receive requests for preferential or expedited care for VIPs, Redford said her first impression of the memo banning the practice “was good.”
But she said the statement that queue-jumping requests were “not uncommon” didn’t ring true.
Another AHS executive who took the stand Tuesday called the wording “odd” on the 2009 queue-jumping memo from AHS chief executive Stephen Duckett.
“I thought it was very oddly worded. For it to say it is not uncommon, to me that means it is common. That was just not my experience,” said Patti Grier, AHS chief of staff and corporate secretary.
Grier said she wasn’t aware of requests for preferential treatment that may have triggered the memo, which was circulated among AHS leaders. She also said she wasn’t aware of any preferential care or access requests during her time with CHR or AHS.
Redford’s counterpart in Edmonton’s former Capital Health authority, Hlus, said not only did his job not include adjusting wait lists, he hadn’t heard about such practices occurring.
Last week, Duckett testified at the inquiry that Hlus —whom he’d never met— was one of the people identified to him as a medical system “Mr. Fix-It” who operated at the old health regions.
Hlus said can’t figure out where the allegation came from.
He said his job involved helping elected officials navigate Alberta’s health-care system, but said calls from politicians made up only a “small percentage” of his work week.
The inquiry resumes in Edmonton Thursday. Two weeks of hearings are scheduled for Calgary, beginning Jan. 7.