Breakup of Alberta health ministry will create confusion, doctors and nurses say

Organizations that represent Alberta's physicians and nurses say the splitting of the provincial health ministry into two, at the same time Alberta Health Services is broken into four, will create confusion for patients. 

On Friday, Premier Danielle Smith announced that Adriana LaGrange, formerly the health minister, is now minister of primary and preventative health services and Matt Jones is moving from Jobs, Economy and Trade to become minister of hospital and surgical services. 

Alberta Health will be divided to reflect the two ministers' areas of responsibility. 

The province says this completes the breakup of Alberta Health Services, the former province-wide health authority, into four different agencies: Acute Care Alberta, Recovery Alberta, Primary Care Alberta and Assisted Living Alberta. 

Mental Health and Addiction Minister Rick Wilson is responsible for Recovery Alberta. Jason Nixon, the minister of the newly named Assisted Living and Social Services ministry, will oversee Assisted Living Alberta. 

Dr. Shelley Duggan, president of the Alberta Medical Association, is concerned about how patients will navigate the new system. 

In an interview with CBC News, Duggan gave the example of a physician caring for a hospital patient who will need home care after they are discharged. 

"Maybe you're having a challenge with getting them home care," she said. 

"Do you go to the acute care people and ask for help? Do you go to the continuing care people and ask for help?"

Lack of transparency, UNA president says

Another example Duggan gave is a psychiatrist caring for a patient with substance use issues. If the patient is in hospital, Acute Care Alberta is the agency the doctor deals with, Duggan said. If that patient needs to move into addictions treatment, then Recovery Alberta is in charge. 

"You can see that even within a hospital stay or an event, we'll call it, people can move between all of these different pillars," she said. 

Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said the confusion created by the AHS and ministerial break-up will blur the lines of accountability.

She said Alberta Health Services was transparent. These new pillars with their respective ministers make it harder for the public to see where their taxes are going. 

"Nixon, Jones, Wilson or LaGrange, which minister of health do you speak to about your concerns, about the services you are or are not able to access?" Smith said. 

"We had one minister, the buck stopped there. We now have four ministers. Who knows where the buck stops?"

A spokesperson for the province said the ministerial changes won't affect patients. 

"Public servants will continue their work as usual, with organizational structures and reporting lines adjusting to reflect the new cabinet responsibilities, as is standard with changes in cabinet," a spokesperson said in an email attributed to LaGrange's office.

Duggan said the AMA has met regularly with LaGrange. She said she sent a request to meet with Jones, Nixon and Wilson. 

"For physicians, it's just confusion and chaos and hoping that the changes will sort of end soon and that we can figure out what the new reality is," she said.