UCP, AHS dispute email asking Calgary paramedics to offload patients at hospitals regardless of staff availability
Health Minister Jason Copping and Alberta Health Services [AHS] rebuked the assertion and said the government did not issue mandates on the matter.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Jason Copping are facing pushback on an unconfirmed government edict that would allegedly force Calgary paramedics to offload emergency room-bound patients within 45 minutes of reaching the hospital — regardless of whether staff are available to take over care.
The Alberta NDP received a copy of an email from a Foothills Medical Centre staffer that claims a new directive from the province would change the policy on patient drop-off starting March 15.
In the email penned last Friday, an unidentified emergency department manager expressed concern about the hospital's ability to handle the change should the UCP mandate paramedics leave the hospital within 45 minutes.
"I know this comes as a big shock to all of us, and I am not sure how we are going to manage this," it reads.
"Please know if there was anything I could do to prevent this, I would, but this is being mandated by the government."
As part of her commitment to reform Alberta's healthcare system, new premier Danielle Smith released the board of Alberta Health Services just days after replacing Chief Medical Officer of Health, Deena Hinshaw.
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The NDP claims it received similar correspondence from other Calgary hospitals, prompting Opposition leader Rachel Notley to demand the UCP abandon the move.
During Question Period on Monday, she called the plan dangerous and dishonest.
"That is a very, I would argue, deceitful and, more importantly, dangerous plan by this UCP government, and one that they need not move ahead on, but also one that they need to come clean on," said Notley.
"How is the premier going to implement this plan safely, Mr. Speaker?" she asked.
Copping and Alberta Health Services [AHS] rebuked the assertion and said the government did not issue mandates on the matter.
"There is no directive from the government," said Copping on Monday.
"There is an objective to reach a target of 45 minutes, and [AHS official administrator Dr. John Cowell] and the AHS team are working hard to make that happen so we can turn around ambulances faster."
Alberta Health Services (AHS) confirmed evening that a network outage occurred earlier in the day, causing widespread disruptions and postponements to non-urgent surgeries and other procedures.
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AHS could not confirm the email's source, but they said it's "concerning that such an email has been sent as this is not a directive or a mandate."
"It is a target to work towards," said AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson.
"[Forty-five] minutes is the Canadian standard and has been for some time. The EMS advisory council recommended improving offload times to align with that standard," said the health authority in a written statement.
"AHS is working hard to meet these targets by making numerous steps to improve [the] offload times...of patients brought into an [emergency department] by EMS, in a safe and manageable manner."
Asked about the email at an unrelated news conference Monday, Smith said she has "doubt that [that] would be the case." However, she commented that paramedics are too often used as an "extension of hallway medicine."
According to the premier, the province needs changes to get ambulances back on the road more quickly.
"That's not an appropriate use of those resources," she said. "It's demoralizing our front-line staff, creating red alerts, and causing them not to be available when we have acute needs.
Alberta's UCP government has announced immediate access to thousands more publicly funded orthopedic surgeries as the province is partnering with more Calgary-chartered surgical facilities.https://t.co/TOzKe4HQWP
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"We have to take a different approach," continued Smith, who noted the addition of 114 full-time equivalent nurses to emergency rooms across 16 hospitals, would limit the time paramedics spend at hospitals.
"When a paramedic comes in, they can do the charting [and] they can drop the patient off in the care of somebody qualified to take care of them so that they can be sorted through the rest of the process."
But Notley questioned the government's ability to hire that many nurses by March 15, calling it a "fake talking point." She added they had yet to inform front-line staff that reinforcements were coming.
"You cannot hire 114 nurses out of nowhere in nine days," said the Opposition leader. "You can't go down to the nurses' store and pick up a pallet of nurses."
Notley claimed the UCP is more focused on generating "pretend statistics" in news releases than protecting the healthcare system.
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