WATCH ABOVE: AHS has been under pressure to find ways to deal with long wait times, crowded emergency rooms and a lack of beds. There will soon be new spaces, but critics contend they come with a side a politics. Vinesh Pratap reports.
EDMONTON — Alberta Health Minister Stephen Mandel announced Wednesday the creation of over 300 new beds, an expanded role for paramedics, and funding to improve emergency rooms in Calgary and Edmonton.
The province said AHS will open 311 new restorative care spaces – designed to help seniors after a hospital stay. Calgary will receive 186 of these restorative beds and Edmonton will receive 125 beds.
“Seniors are spending too long in hospitals awaiting evaluation and placement,” said Mandel.
“Keeping patients too long in hospital is not good for the patient and it’s not good for the system.”
“The reality is we need to do more,” he added.
The health minister said two centres – one in Edmonton and one in Calgary – will be staffed by multi-disciplinary teams that will focus on placing patients in the most appropriate care and setting.
“The addition of the new restorative care beds will have a direct impact on patients and help many return to their homes and to their families and avoid continuing care,” explained AHS CEO Vickie Kaminski.
“It’s about moving people from the hospitals to these facilities,” said Mandel. “Ultimately, this is about treating seniors with dignity.”
The 311 new beds are in addition to the beds announced last fall. Out of the 464 continuing care spaces announced last October, Mandel said 303 are now open.
READ MORE: Alberta to open 464 continuing care spaces
When speaking about the 311 new beds, Mandel said the goal is to have the Calgary beds set up by the end of the summer and the Edmonton beds set up by the end of the year.
The government will also be providing funding to AHS for renovations to increase capacity and improve care in emergency rooms at Peter Lougheed Centre and South Health Campus in Calgary and the Misericordia, Grey Nuns and Royal Alexandra hospitals in Edmonton.
READ MORE: More issues discovered at Edmonton’s Misericordia hospital
The total cost is about $50 million. Construction will be funded through the province’s Alberta Supportive Living Initiative.
“Renaming existing hospital beds isn’t actually opening new beds,” said NDP leader Rachel Notley during Question Period Wednesday.
“As for the $50 million that the health minister announced today, it kind of pales to the nine per cent cut. A five per cent cut to AHS is almost $1 billion – 20 times more than what you announced today.
“So if the premier thinks that his announcement of $50 million today can help the frontline, how exactly does he expect Albertans to believe a cut of 20 times that size will not hurt the front line?” Notley asked.
Mandel responded by saying the decisions were about making the health care system more efficient.
Another change addresses the role of paramedics in the province.
“We need to think of our paramedics and EMTs as primary care providers,” said Mandel.
CODE RED: Paramedics ring alarm bells, call Edmonton ‘a vortex’
Paramedics’ scope of practice will be expanded this summer, with new regulations under the Health Professions Act. The province says the change will allow paramedics to provide more front-line care in clinics and hospitals, work with nurses, and administer services like portable lab analysis.
Kaminski was asked if there was any concern that expanding paramedics’ scope of practice would put additional strain on workers.
“We’ve heard very loudly and clearly from EMS providers that they want to be able to use the full scope of practice. There’s a lot that they can offer that will help our environment and help them in our environment to be both more productive, feel better about what they’re able to do and relieve some of the pressures that they’re seeing.”
“This is not something that’s being imposed,” she added. “This is a response to the EMS people coming forward and saying ‘we can do a lot more, we need to be allowed to do this.'”
Wait times have been an issue for years in Alberta.
READ MORE: Overcapacity at emergency rooms in Edmonton alarming: NDP
Last month the Alberta NDP released statistics taken from documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request showing emergency departments around Edmonton have been dealing with an alarming number of overcapacity situations.
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