UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith released her plan to make changes to Alberta Health Services (AHS) so patients won't have to be 'treated on hospital floors' as staff and ICU shortages continue..On Tuesday, Smith said in a news release, “AHS executive management failed Albertans during the COVID response."."Although I disagreed with the government’s lockdowns and vaccine passports, the pretext for both was to give AHS the time and money they needed to develop surge capacity," said Smith.."Not only did they fail to increase ICU capacity, it actually decreased when we needed it most," she said..While at a leadership candidates debate co-hosted by the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) and Rebel News Smith suggested firing the AHS board..Smith said after AHS failed to increase ICU capacity, AHS then compounded the crisis when it imposed vaccine mandates on hospital staff (losing hundreds of front-line health workers in the middle of a crisis).."AHS required all new staff to be vaccinated thereby preventing us from hiring the additional health professionals needed," said Smith.."That staff and ICU shortage continues today with patients often being treated on hospital floors. It was and is disgusting to watch this happen to my fellow Albertans. And to be clear, this is not the fault of our front-line health workers labouring tirelessly to make up for a lack of front-line resources and ineffective executive leadership."."It’s the fault of AHS management and insufficient government action to rectify the problem," Smith said..Smith vows on her first day, should she win this leadership race, as premie she will immediately ensure the following:.1. "Hire a new, competent, and capable Alberta Health Services CEO.".2. Replace the AHS Board with an interim health commissioner for at least the next year, who reports directly to the premier and the minister of health..3. Within 30 days, have an independent and respected body, such as the Alberta Health Quality Council, work with the interim commissioner, to perform a health facility audit and provide a set of recommendations that will immediately increase the number of staffed ICUs and non-ICU care beds for the fall/winter respiratory and virus season, and to resolve the unacceptable EMS response times..4. Within 90 days, the same audit team will provide a further report and recommendations on how to best cut AHS bureaucracy and reinvest those dollars on the front lines, decentralize control of healthcare delivery to local decision-makers and health professionals, permanently reduce ER wait times, and increase general health care capacity to safe and acceptable levels.."Our healthcare system is in rough shape and there is no silver bullet; however, the above reforms are critical to saving lives in the short term and preparing our system for continuous improvement as we move forward," Smith said.."I will be looking to all Albertans, especially our front-line health professionals, to assist and work with our government to get our health system back on track.”
