Laurie in Question Period
Ambulance Services
Questions asked in the 26th Legislature of Alberta, 3rd Session by Ms. Laurie Blakeman, Alberta Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Centre, Shadow Cabinet Minister for Health and Wellness
Alberta Hansard November 20, 2007
Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The mess this government created is flowing downhill and landing at the front doors of our cities. City hospitals are so backed up that paramedics are forced to wait up to eight hours in emergency rooms, which also means that those ambulances are not available to respond to calls. My first question is to the minister of health. There were 24 red alerts in Edmonton just last month, and that is only expected to get worse. Why didn’t the minister do anything over the past year to prevent this predictable situation?
Mr. Hancock: Well, actually, Mr. Speaker, the minister of health did quite a lot in this area. I met with both the Calgary regional health authority and the Capital health authority to talk about what they might do in terms of the emergency areas, how we can expand the capacity of the emergency areas, putting in place the full capacity protocol, as an example, which has been implemented in both places with some degree of modification for the circumstances. We’re doing a lot of work in terms of how we can move patients through so that there’s more capacity at the front end of the emergency. The fact of the matter is that there is increased activity at emergencies notwithstanding initiatives such as the Capital Health Link, which was created a number of years ago and took a lot of pressure off the demand for emergency. That’s been expanded across the province. There’s lots of good work happening.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Ms Blakeman: Thank you. To the same minister. Ground ambulance funding has remained static since 2005. How does the minister expect municipalities to respond quickly to emergencies when provincial funding is not keeping up with inflation or population increase?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Hancock: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to 2005, of course, ambulances were run by municipalities and funded by municipalities. In 2005 the government made a decision to move to supporting ambulance services as a part of the health system, but that was put on hold. As a result of that, there was a hole in the municipalities’ budgets because they hadn’t planned in that year, and the government stepped forward and filled that hole with $ 55 million. That doesn’t stop municipalities from increasing their funding for ambulance services, as they used to do in the past. However, we are working on an ambulance policy, which I hope to be able to bring forward very shortly, to deal with the completion of that transition program.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Ms Blakeman: Thank you. Well, this government backed out of the deal and left the municipalities on the hook.
To the same minister. In April, when there was still snow on the ground, the minister indicated that he would soon be deciding whether to transfer ambulance service delivery from the municipalities to the health regions. There is snow on the ground again. Has the minister made this decision, or are municipalities going to have to wait in limbo for another two years?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Hancock: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. One thing I’ve learned on this job is that issues aren’t always as simple as they seem to be on the surface. With ambulance services that seems to be the case. There are a lot of interests across the province with respect to ambulance services. There have been at least five reports on the area. Over the course of the year I’ve met with a number of stakeholders and interested people with respect to the area. I’ve reviewed the pilot projects, I’ve reviewed the reports, and we’re moving forward with a policy, which will come in the fullness of time.
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