Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi slams premier’s plan to transfer hospitals

EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition leader says Premier Danielle Smith needs to explain her plan to potentially transfer control of underperforming hospitals to third parties.

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says Smith also needs to explain why she chose to quietly reveal the new policy two weeks ago at a members-only United Conservative Party event with no subsequent mention of it to the general public.

Nenshi, in an interview Tuesday, said the silence indicates the government is scared the plan won’t be popular or “they’re making it up as they go along.”

“This is no way to run a system with over 100,000 employees, to do it at your whim, to have no real plan and to just spout off the next thing that comes into your head that you think will please the audience you’re in front of,” Nenshi said.

“It’s pretty scary.”

The policy change would be part of a broader plan announced last year by Smith to dismantle Alberta Health Services, or AHS, the agency tasked with delivering front-line care.

Smith has been sharply critical of the agency, accusing it of failing to rise to the challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. After taking office in 2022, she fired its governing board.

The province is replacing AHS with four agencies tasked with overseeing specific areas of health care, with AHS left to focus on acute care in hospitals.

However, on Aug. 17, Smith told a United Conservative Party town hall in Drayton Valley, Alta., that the new AHS mandate may be reduced further.

Smith told the audience her government plans to hand over the operation of underperforming hospitals to third parties.

“We’re prepared to take away their authority to operate hospitals as well,” Smith said on video recordings of the meeting posted online.

“We need Alberta Health Services to focus on delivering the best care in the 106 facilities they operate for us — they have been distracted trying to run everything else, so we’re taking away all of their excuses.

“If our operator isn’t performing the services we need them to, we’re going to take it back.

“The next phase is to see how many of those hospitals that AHS currently operates that we can retake ownership over. We can’t do it for all of them,” said Smith.

Smith said the government is already offering up private charter surgical facilities and the services of faith-based public provider Covenant Health in an effort to create competition and “fear” among providers.

“When you’re dealing with a monopoly, and they believe that they can deliver any type of care and there’s no consequences, they’re going to continue to deliver bad service,” she said.

Smith’s office declined to provide a comment Tuesday to The Canadian Press and directed questions to Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s office.

LaGrange’s office declined to respond to emailed questions about how hospital underperformance might be measured and how transferring authority might address staffing shortages.

In a statement, Andrea Smith, LaGrange’s press secretary, said the government wants to see “better results” from AHS, especially in rural and remote communities where there has been an increasing number of closures of emergency departments.

“The work to refocus Alberta’s health-care system includes transitioning Alberta Health Services, over time, to focus on delivering only acute care services,” she said, adding that AHS and Covenant Health will both still play key roles.

“Ensuring we have the right partner delivering these services is critical and we will continue to evaluate this on an ongoing basis.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2024.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press