POLITICS OVER POLICY
How many people does it take to change a light bulb? In the case of Alberta Health Services, none, because they never get around to it. The provincial government says it’s returning to a regional model following the release of a report Wednesday that criticizes the delivery of rural health care. The report was produced by a committee chaired by backbench Tory MLA Dr. Richard Starke, a veterinarian, and found that managers at rural hospitals complained that routine maintenance tasks like changing light bulbs and fixing toilets were delayed for months, even years, while they waited for as many as six bureaucrats up the chain of command to approve expenditures.
The report said some managers became so frustrated, they dipped into their own pockets to buy screws, Band- Aids and bleach.
The findings are damning. So, why wouldn’t the government simply instruct AHS to streamline the approval process for routine repairs and the purchase of essentials items? Having been made aware of such bureaucratic dithering, one would think officials would act immediately to ensure there was bleach on hand in rural hospitals for cleaning and that toilets weren’t left unusable for long periods of time.
Instead, AHS will create eight to 10 health districts by July — that’s more than three months from now, presumably after the election that is widely expected to be called by Premier Jim Prentice. Each health district will have community advisory councils, but it will be local administrators who decide where to spend their part of AHS’s $ 13.6- billion budget.
“We’ve heard from a number of people that we have built with AHS a bit of a cumbersome decision- making process in some areas and that they believe there’s an opportunity for us to enhance their ability to be involved and give us input,” says AHS chief executive Vickie Kaminski.
It’s not at all clear how these advisory councils, comprised of 10- 15 volunteers meeting four times a year, will ensure dead light bulbs are promptly changed.
Further, along with keeping control of each district’s budget, AHS will retain decision- making power on all major capital projects.
If the government’s tinkering leads to better rural health care, that’s all to the good. But if you were to talk to rural Albertans about health care, they’d probably tell you the same thing you’d hear from those living in the province’s biggest cities: they simply want timely access to quality treatment.
On that score, the decision to create health districts has more than a whiff of politics rather than the hallmarks of sound public policy.