Premier Kenney hopes public can see plans for $1.8B hospital expansion in the “next few months”

He said all involved want to avoid repeating that scenario.

“The reason that happened was constant changes to the plan. Once we have the plan [for Red Deer], we want it to be comprehensive and avoid changes,” he continued. “When I say ‘new hospital,’ this is $1.8 billion going towards new infrastructure, which is more than we spent on the entire Grande Prairie (project), and more than we’ve ever spent on any new hospital in the province, including the big Calgary south health campus.

“The reason it’s taking time is because it’ll obviously be connected into the existing Red Deer Regional, but they have to build a section, bring patients over, then retrofit an old section while building another new one. There’s that constant challenge of maintaining services while expanding the facility.”

Asked about diversions of surgeries at Red Deer Regional lasting nearly two months, the premier said he’s concerned anytime there’s interruption to regular services, but noted a $2 billion increase for health care in the provincial budget.

“We have more doctors and nurses than ever before. Our system is under stress, and a lot of that is knock-down effect from COVID where we had to postpone tens of thousands of surgeries,” he said.

“Also, something happened in COVID which we’re really only starting to realize, which is that a lot of people deferred visits to their doctors. Many people with health conditions have worsened and are presenting in emergency with more complex conditions. We’re doing what we can to address those stresses across the province; AHS is very focused on that. Money isn’t the problem here; we have pretty much the best-funded system in Canada, and we’ve added that $2 billion.”

Adds Kenney: Medical staff are burned out and more people are coming to hospital, which is the recipe for a real problem.

“I think everybody understands we cant just snap our fingers and solve every health care stress-point in this province of 4.5 million people with all of these challenges. AHS is trying to backfill, but in the midterm, what we’re really doing is focusing on accelerating recruitment and training of nurses and doctors,” he says.

“That’s more of an issue in rural Alberta where we’re seeing some acute physician shortages, but we have funded a significant increase in the amount of nurses positions in our colleges and universities, and we are increasing recruitment efforts.”

Kenney divulged that he met recently with the Philippine ambassador about a possible agreement to accelerate credential recognition of Philippine nurses coming to Canada.

He noted 19 new ICU beds added this year, adding that the province has increased the number of staffed ambulances.

“I just got off the phone with all the premiers,” he said. “And every province is feeling the same stresses.”

According to Alberta Health Services, diversions are in fact continuing at Red Deer Regional, though just some general surgery cases.

As of 4 p.m. on June 21, 127 general surgery cases have been diverted since the temporary diversion began April 29. During the same timeframe, 286 general surgeries — urgent and scheduled — were completed on-site.

Depending on condition, a patient may be diverted to Camrose, Rocky Mountain House, Drumheller, Edmonton or Calgary.

“AHS is working hard to resume normal surgical services at the site. The situation is being reviewed and evaluated regularly as AHS’ recruitment efforts for key positions like Clinical Assistants to support the general surgery program continue,” AHS says. “New recruits to the Clinical Assistant positions are currently in the process of completing the necessary licensing requirements before they can begin work at the facility. The diversion will be lifted as soon as possible.”

The Opposition NDP, meantime, say Kenney’s comments about having more nurses and doctors than ever before are a callous dismissal.

“Anyone who has called an ambulance or visited a hospital in recent months knows just how dishonest Jason Kenney and the UCP continue to be. Ambulances have been stacked 14 deep in the Red Deer Hospital parking lot, unable to deliver their patients to an overwhelmed emergency room,” says Health Critic David Shepherd.

“The ongoing diversion of surgeries from Red Deer is a clear demonstration of how the UCP continue to fail to address the crisis in health care and residents in central Alberta. Healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, are leaving the province and workforce at record rates because this UCP government abandoned and attacked them during the pandemic.”

Shepherd opines that because nurses hired directly upon graduation have less experience and therefore capability compared to those who’ve left, it could take years for the system to recover.

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Premier Kenney hopes public can see plans for $1.8B hospital expansion in the “next few months”

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