Western Standard - Alberta Allocates Funds for Continuing Care in Budget 2024：

00:00:00.000 Minister of Health, Jason Nixon, our Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services,

00:00:05.240 and Faisal Keshebji, Chair of the Alberta Continuing Care Association.

00:00:09.580 Albertans want to know that our health care system is there when they need it and where they need it.

00:00:13.480 They deserve no less, and that's why our government made health care a top priority in Budget 2024.

00:00:19.560 We invested a record $26.2 billion to improve primary health care, add capacity, reduce wait times,

00:00:26.080 grow the workforce, and advance the health care action plan.

00:00:29.520 But we'd set the wheels in motion long before our budget was released last month.

00:00:34.820 Last November, we made a promise to improve health care delivery by refocusing the health care system.

00:00:40.400 And we're in the process of creating four specialized areas of focus, primary care, acute care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction.

00:00:49.160 Budget 2024 provides the funding for decisive actions in each of those areas,

00:00:54.280 including significant investments in continuing care already under pressure as Alberta's population

00:00:59.920 continues to grow and grow older and as more people require more care for more complex needs.

00:01:05.840 For example, there are a number of patients in hospital who no longer need hospital care

00:01:10.120 but still require specialized support. These are referred to as alternative level of care

00:01:16.380 patients and what we have found is that it is taking far longer than it should to transition

00:01:21.620 Albertans from a hospital to more appropriate care setting such as continuing care or in other

00:01:27.400 community support services. This came to sharp focus this past December when Minister Adriana

00:01:32.760 LaGrange visited the Royal Alexandra Hospital and connected with a specialist in the ER who flagged

00:01:39.180 that they had approximately 27 patients in hospital ready to be discharged but could not be discharged

00:01:46.100 because their taxes and other financial issues were not complete as a result these patients could

00:01:52.340 not qualify for the social assistance they needed to ensure their care continued after they were

00:01:57.220 discharged on average about 1500 albertans are in hospital beds waiting to be moved almost half

00:02:06.420 are transferred within seven days to a more appropriate setting than a hospital and most

00:02:11.940 within 25 days but there's a percentage of patients with more complex needs who remain

00:02:18.420 in hospitals much longer than necessary and while alberton alberta actually leads the country in

00:02:24.500 managing alternative levels of care patient uh patients we know that there's more work to be

00:02:29.860 done to reduce these wait times we want to ensure patients receive the care they need in the most

00:02:34.820 appropriate setting whether it's a long-term care facility a community support facility or an

00:02:39.860 appropriate home care support service we are focused on transferring patients facing specific

00:02:45.700 challenges to an appropriate care setting by embedding teams within ahs with support from

00:02:50.900 alberta health seniors community and social services and mental health and addiction

00:02:56.340 these teams will focus on removing barriers to care that could include financial or legal issues

00:03:01.220 or homelessness we are reviewing the decision making process to shorten the time it takes to

00:03:06.100 assess the type of continuing care supports that a patient needs and through budget 2024 we're

00:03:12.180 making significant investments in continuing care spaces in the province before i invite minister

00:03:17.620 lagrange to the podium let me reiterate that our government is committed to ensuring access to

00:03:22.820 quality public health care for all albertans improving access to alternative levels of care

00:03:28.180 and continuing care will benefit not only patients but also the overall health care system

00:03:33.540 the investments that we're making and the actions that we're taking including refocusing

00:03:37.460 our health care system allow us to focus on accountability service delivery and effective

00:03:42.100 governance of both the acute care and continuing care sectors and most importantly improving our

00:03:47.540 health care system enables us to focus on the patient and provide albertans with the care they

00:03:53.220 need when and where earlier albertans deserve no less thank you and i now ask adrian lagrange to

00:03:58.420 take the mic thank you premier and good afternoon everyone as premier mentioned we are dedicated to

00:04:10.340 ensuring that albertans who access our health care system get the care they need in the most

00:04:15.540 appropriate setting for them for some that means securing a spot in a continuing care home after

00:04:22.020 they've been treated in hospital we must remember that at the heart of a situation like this are

00:04:28.100 human beings at a very vulnerable time in their lives just because they no longer require hospital

00:04:34.980 care does not mean they do not still require some level of care and support but as it is now it

00:04:42.180 often takes days if not weeks to find the right spaces for these individuals and spending that

00:04:49.060 wait time in a hospital is not the right course of action that is why budget 2024 includes an

00:04:56.260 investment of 1.7 billion with a b billion dollars into the continuing care system in alberta

00:05:05.620 this will ensure albertans get the appropriate level of care and support they need and want

00:05:10.740 whether it is in a continuing care home or in their personal home or in their community

00:05:17.620 our investment is enabling the transformation of continuing care in alberta which is dedicated

00:05:22.980 to creating a system that is more responsive and sustainable which will not only help address

00:05:30.020 pressures in continuing care but it will also help our acute care system this funding includes 654

00:05:38.260 million over three years for the continuing care capital program which supports uh projects that

00:05:44.420 will add or improve more than 1600 continuing care spaces for albertans

00:05:49.780 But the particularly exciting thing is that we're not just adding beds in buildings.

00:05:57.660 At the same time, we are making a particular effort to develop new and innovative models

00:06:02.320 of continuing care for Albertans.

00:06:05.300 This includes funding for small homes, which will be a home for 4 to 14 individuals, residents,

00:06:12.720 and are designed to serve those in rural or remote communities or those with complex needs.

00:06:18.500 it could be continuing care homes that offer comprehensive in-house health services bringing

00:06:24.020 together different types and levels of continuing care into one integrated community practically

00:06:31.060 speaking this means couples or families or friends with varying needs can choose to continue to live

00:06:37.700 together and not be separated because of those varying needs also we will be creating culturally

00:06:44.660 appropriate spaces to support indigenous groups on and off reserves and metis settlements as well

00:06:53.220 and deliberately we're adding new spaces in geographical areas where there is the greatest

00:06:58.340 need but while we are working on developing excellent options for albertans in continuing

00:07:04.660 care homes i think many of us would say that if possible we would want to age at home and stay

00:07:12.100 living independently therefore we are also wanting to support albertans in that choice

00:07:18.740 which is why we are also working on bolstering supports in home and community care that includes

00:07:25.220 funding to home care pilot projects that will provide wraparound services and supports for

00:07:31.220 clients returning home from hospital and funds for community projects to support older albertans

00:07:37.140 with non-medical services such as transportation housekeeping and even snow removal sometimes

00:07:44.740 these are all that is needed to enable someone to stay in their own home supporting albertans as

00:07:51.140 they age and providing the care they need and want will not only take pressure off the continuing

00:07:56.580 care system but as i said earlier it will help keep people out of the acute care system in the

00:08:02.020 first place i am proud of the progress we've made in transforming continuing care in alberta

00:08:07.780 and i have no doubt this work prepares our province for the future where demand for quality

00:08:13.620 and choice in continuing care home and community care and indeed our entire health care system

00:08:20.580 will only continue to grow and so now i would like to invite minister nixon up to say a few words

00:08:26.020 Thank you, Adriana, and good afternoon, everyone. The Premier has given all of her Cabinet and the

00:08:35.620 Government of Alberta a mandate to make sure that our province remains the best place to live,

00:08:40.420 raise a family, and retire in our country. For the Department of Seniors, Community,

00:08:44.580 and Social Services, that means ensuring Albertans have access to social services that they need,

00:08:49.300 but also making sure that our social services departments are working closely with our partner

00:08:53.700 ministries including the ministry of health to provide supports in a collaborative way

00:08:58.100 to benefit all albertans sorry it is a priority of our government to make sure that people who

00:09:03.940 rely on our system including seniors and people with disabilities have access to the best care 1.00

00:09:08.820 possible in their chosen communities to do this seniors community and social services is currently

00:09:14.020 supporting the ministry of health and alberta health services with the transition of individuals

00:09:18.660 out of acute care and into more appropriate care settings for their needs and for the quality of

00:09:23.140 life seniors community and social services has formed teams that have been working directly

00:09:27.700 with alberta health and alberta health services to support patients moving out of acute care

00:09:32.260 into alternative levels of care these teams are made up of staff from several divisions

00:09:36.980 within the ministry of seniors community and social services including our financial services

00:09:40.900 division senior services division disability services homelessness services and the office

00:09:46.260 of the public guardian and trustee these teams are addressing barriers to leaving acute care

00:09:51.700 in our health system they are rapidly connecting patients with things like benefit programs

00:09:56.500 disability supports community services and other non-medical supports to help people return home

00:10:02.740 or enter more appropriate care settings in their communities we know that some patients waiting to

00:10:07.460 leave acute care require home modifications things like wheelchair ramps or washroom bars

00:10:12.660 or non-medical supports like transportation and housekeeping and even snow removal which is why

00:10:17.940 I have directed my department to make sure all programs within my department are given priority

00:10:24.180 immediately to any alternative level of care patient who needs to be able to leave the hospital

00:10:29.540 faster and ultimately to make sure they receive the support they need in this in their community.

00:10:34.740 This work is ensuring that patients coming out of the hospital are being immediately connected with

00:10:38.740 supports in their communities. Alberta's government believes that it is best when seniors and people

00:10:43.860 with complex needs can live in the communities closest to the support network our focus will

00:10:49.140 remain on getting people a place to stay and into the community that is most appropriate for their

00:10:54.020 needs this means investing in places for people to call home in their communities one of the big

00:10:59.300 ways that we do that is through alberta's senior lodge program the lodge program is our oldest

00:11:04.260 affordable housing program and provides affordable housing to tens of thousands of albertans who

00:11:09.460 still need to and are receiving services they need while still living in a community setting.

00:11:14.260 We are currently working with Alberta Health to identify how to use existing vacancies in our

00:11:18.740 Lodge system to help patients who need to leave acute care in the hospital get an appropriate

00:11:23.220 level of care in the community. Government has also appointed a panel to review our Lodge program

00:11:27.940 and make sure that our Lodge system is sustainable for the future. This panel is also exploring how

00:11:33.060 to improve connection to Alberta's continuing care system, making sure that the right level

00:11:38.100 of care is available to seniors in their communities finding these improvements in

00:11:42.180 the lodge system will help take pressure off of the acute care system in the long run

00:11:46.180 while providing a welcoming community for all albertans these initiatives in addition to

00:11:50.660 investments and more affordable housing options our province will support albertans including

00:11:54.820 seniors and those with complex health and social needs who can live independently with assisted

00:11:59.620 care in an affordable setting last fall i was pleased to join minister lagrange and minister

00:12:04.500 Williams to announce how we are working closely together on a new continuing care organization

00:12:09.700 as part of the health transition that is focused on patients first and that will connect all those

00:12:14.020 waiting for continuing care with streamlined effective services services for both medical

00:12:19.060 and community that they can rely on in the future this collaboration on the refocused continuing

00:12:23.780 care organization will ensure that housing community-based care and non-medical supports

00:12:28.660 are priority for Albertans as they require different levels and types of care as Albertans

00:12:33.700 As age and our population grows, people require more complex supports, which is why Alberta

00:12:38.620 will continue to invest in housing and communities that allow all Albertans to live dignified

00:12:43.100 and happy lives.

00:12:44.100 And with that, I would like to call up to the podium Faisal Keshevji, who's a dear friend

00:12:50.220 of ours.

00:12:51.220 He's the chair of the Alberta Continuing Care Association and a great resource for both

00:12:54.980 Minister LaGrange and ICE departments to talk a little bit about our announcement today.

00:13:02.260 Thank you, Minister, Madam Premier, Minister LaGrange.

00:13:06.660 Thank you very much.

00:13:07.660 Today marks a great milestone in Alberta's healthcare landscape, and on behalf of the

00:13:11.260 members of the Alberta Continuing Care Association, we are grateful for government's determined

00:13:16.220 actions.

00:13:17.220 The initiatives unveiled today signify boldly forward in addressing the critical challenges

00:13:22.120 entrenched within our healthcare system, backed by tangible commitments and strategic investments.

00:13:27.880 The announcement of $1.7 billion with a B dollars allocated towards continuing care alongside

00:13:34.060 targeted efforts to reduce wait times for alternate level of care or ALC patients underscores

00:13:39.140 a concerted effort to revolutionize access and efficiency in healthcare provision.

00:13:45.560 By streamlining patient flow and facilitating prompt transitions to appropriate care settings,

00:13:51.420 including more care in the client's home, we are not only easing the burden on our acute

00:13:55.820 care facilities, but also safeguarding the well-being of individuals in dire need of

00:14:00.520 specialized support.

00:14:03.520 Budget 2024's continuation of the $1 billion over three years for continuing care transformation

00:14:09.280 signifies a monumental investment in the future of health care in Alberta.

00:14:13.960 This funding will empower a multitude of initiatives aimed at fortifying community care services,

00:14:19.940 augmenting workforce capacity and training, and enhancing quality of care standards across

00:14:25.340 the spectrum furthermore the continuing care capital program with a much needed budget of 654

00:14:32.220 million over three years represents a resolute commitment to infrastructure expansion paving

00:14:37.900 the way for the creation of over 1600 new continuing care spaces these numbers paint a

00:14:44.860 vivid picture of the need of end of our members commitment to ensuring equitable access to care

00:14:50.620 for all Albertans irrespective of their circumstances beyond these infrastructure

00:14:56.380 enhancements the immediate establishment of over 150 temporary continuing care spaces

00:15:01.260 and another almost thousand spaces by 2025 and the inception of a new continuing care

00:15:06.940 organization exemplify a proactive approach to health care delivery by addressing immediate

00:15:13.020 challenges while laying the groundwork for more integrated and seamless care care continuum

00:15:18.300 these initiatives herald a new dawn for the continuing care sector i know minister lagrange

00:15:24.380 is working with our federal counterpart to solidify the aging with dignity program and

00:15:29.980 that will truly enhance home community care with primary care something that is going to

00:15:34.860 be truly welcomed in this sector in closing on behalf of the members of the alberta continuing

00:15:41.100 care association i extend my gratitude to our government for their visionary leadership and

00:15:45.980 dedication to the health and well-being of Albertans. Today's announcements not only

00:15:50.460 signify a significant milestone but also underscore our collective resolve to building

00:15:55.660 a healthcare system that is resilient, responsive, and equitable for all. Thank you.

00:16:02.300 Thank you. We'll now move into questions. We'll start off here in the room of course with one

00:16:06.620 question and one follow-up and hands. We'll start with you Catherine and then we'll go to Lisa. 0.97

00:16:11.980 um sure so um this spring we're expecting that legislation that creates that continuing care

00:16:16.700 pillar um and so remind me for the continuing care facilities that are currently managed by ahs

00:16:24.460 who's going to manage them under the new system well right now ahs operates roughly about 28

00:16:32.060 of all the continuing care in the province that will continue once the continuing care

00:16:37.340 organization is set up then they will look to oversee it and it may be through a contract

00:16:42.540 with alberta health services but at this point in time it will continue to be alberta health services

00:16:47.900 and we mentioned that that transparency piece so i'm wondering are we going to see a wait

00:16:52.620 time dashboard um reported regularly like a week or are we going to see annual reports to

00:16:58.860 legislature how are we going to make sure you're doing what you're saying you're doing well we're

00:17:03.020 actually working on a dashboard that we hope to have up very soon we've been doing a lot of work

00:17:09.420 we needed to modernize the look and accessibility and so we want to make sure that when we put it up

00:17:15.340 it will be accurate and in fact that albertans can actually use it to engage with with ourselves in

00:17:23.980 terms of you know where services available i'm i'm excited to bring it forward when we're ready

00:17:29.580 you mentioned that um we wanted to put investments geographically where there's the most need in

00:17:40.300 continuing care so i wanted to just provide a few more details about the temporary continuing

00:17:45.420 care spaces uh in the release the 50 that have been created so far and i think just over a

00:17:51.660 thousand by 2025 where are those going well currently in the problem in province we have

00:17:56.540 roughly about 450 transitional spaces will so we have upgraded and increased that by additional

00:18:03.020 spaces so when we talk about transitional spaces those are places where individuals would go to

00:18:09.580 have further assessment or to further convalesce before they go to their next level of care whether

00:18:15.900 that's back to home or perhaps into a different community type setting so we are looking to

00:18:23.660 increase those numbers we're working as minister nixon said it's a cross ministry approach i really

00:18:29.740 think the only way we're going to tackle the issues that we see within our health care system

00:18:34.460 is really to have that collaboration across ministry anyone who knows me would know that i'm

00:18:40.460 a huge fan of authentic wraparound services where we put the patient at the center of the care and

00:18:46.460 then bring the people to the individual what do you need when where do you need it how do we get

00:18:51.660 you to the right level of care that you need at this point in time in your life so sorry yeah I

00:18:56.940 didn't I didn't understand that from the press release the temporary means transitional spaces

00:19:03.100 transitional usually it means transitional spaces and I'm also wondering um for Faisal if you might

00:19:10.300 be able to answer this one um you noted that 1600 the 1600 new spaces I mean how does that

00:19:18.540 factor into the need currently in Alberta for more spaces like it could be closer to 10,000 spaces

00:19:25.820 that we need so isn't this just a drop in the bucket yeah you've got you've got to start

00:19:29.340 somewhere uh you know land is expensive all of those things have to be factored in right so it's

00:19:34.140 what can we build in the next foreseeable future when we look out over the next five or six years

00:19:39.260 I think we've estimated there is a need for about 10 10 000 uh spaces but that's because Albertans 1.00

00:19:45.820 are aging and we've got to meet that need so right now in alberta over the age of 65 it's roughly one

00:19:56.220 in seven albertans are over the age of 65 in 20 years that number will actually grow to about one

00:20:02.300 in five um well because i think it's actually the most important question to minister grange's

00:20:09.900 earlier point this is why we're working to make sure multiple ministries are involved to tackle

00:20:14.220 this challenge because i don't think it's the minister's position or the government's position

00:20:18.060 that we're going to be able to build all of those units nor that we need to we need to build as many

00:20:23.260 as we can but there are other solutions that can help deal with some of those 10 000 spaces that

00:20:27.340 may not be the traditional continuing care facility that you've seen in the past and our

00:20:31.580 lodge facilities and that you will see be tackled through some of the smaller facilities that the

00:20:35.420 minister spoke about in her remarks but further that uh with bigger investments inside home care

00:20:40.700 and then overlap with some of the community care initiatives that we do so you know for

00:20:44.940 example when we we have individuals that go into either the lodge program and or to some type of

00:20:50.140 long-term medical care often that may only need something as simple as ramps installed we know

00:20:55.500 that our healthy aging grants that provide snow removal in certain circumstances can move towards

00:21:01.340 that independent living for maybe for the rest of that individual's life but if not to prolong their

00:21:06.860 time uh in their own home and so it's not just capital investment lodges that's part of it but

00:21:11.900 it's continuing to invest across the system to be able to make sure that we can utilize all the

00:21:15.900 tools that we have thank you perfect and we'll go over to the phones operator did we have any

00:21:22.140 callers in the queue no questions in the queue thank you um go for it i wanted to ask minister

00:21:34.460 lagrange so going back to the mnp report and a lot of the details that were in that

00:21:41.500 kind of before your time but it's still guiding a lot of what the government is doing there were

00:21:46.300 some recommendations about hours of care and then we recently just saw these orders in council that

00:21:52.460 dealt with different standards of care and guidelines i'm wondering and if i recall

00:21:57.820 correctly your predecessor minister coughing said that they were looking at that hours of care piece

00:22:02.780 and hoping to bring that into it as well do you have a timeline on when we might see hours of

00:22:09.500 care be brought into those standards of care raise it up to like four hours a day or something like

00:22:14.060 that so we actually increased hours of care and I can ask Faisal to speak to that a little bit

00:22:19.500 more broadly by I believe it was 0.25 hours during my predecessor's time and I also know that in the

00:22:29.820 new regulations that are are coming forward to support the legislation that as you said earlier

00:22:36.060 comes into effect on april 1st that there's flexibility built into to the um the workforce

00:22:43.660 strategy uh so that uh because what we were hearing from providers was that they needed

00:22:49.020 flexibility but i'm happy to invite fazel if he feels he could respond to that more with on the

00:22:55.260 ground knowledge yeah thank you thank you minister yeah uh lisa i think uh minister said we've already

00:23:00.620 started increasing hours of care part of it is there's the balance of supply and demand right

00:23:04.940 so uh we know we want to have as many hours of care i think alberta is actually well positioned 0.78

00:23:09.740 from an hours of care compared to other provinces uh it's also the workforce has to be there to to

00:23:14.700 deliver it so we're working in lockstep and the regulations will help solidify that but we've

00:23:19.740 got to make sure that as the legislation comes out we actually have the workforce so there's

00:23:24.540 it's a multivariate kind of response to that

00:23:29.820 okay yeah one more from you and then we'll spend okay and then we'll wrap

00:23:32.620 okay um well i remember like when raw sherman was in his liberal leader

00:23:37.020 era he was he was saying this exact same thing that our acute care system

00:23:43.420 is is filled with with people who are better suited to continuing care that

00:23:48.220 people should be aging in their own homes so 0.98

00:23:50.620 i mean why why does it take so long when we've known this for

00:23:53.980 at least a decade decade now well i can i will say raj has been an advisor to me all the way

00:24:01.420 um going back to when he was first in politics as well and so when we started down the pathway

00:24:06.700 of refocusing the system one of the the first things that we wanted to do is quantify how many

00:24:11.820 alternative levels of care patients there were and we getting the long-term care patients waiting was

00:24:18.060 a fairly easy task but it did take several weeks for us to be able to identify that there are

00:24:22.380 various others there are individuals who because they're homeless may end up with an injury on the

00:24:29.020 street and because there's nowhere to go to convalesce they're staying in acute care because

00:24:33.260 we haven't completed the construction yet of our mental health facilities for recovery communities

00:24:37.900 there's some of those individuals for mental health and addiction who are also in those beds

00:24:42.140 i think the longest story i should probably let minister nixon tell it was an individual 74 years

00:24:49.740 old who was waiting 891 days that's two and a half years and part of the issue was also getting his

00:24:55.740 tax returns done so that when that finally got done he was entitled to 48 000 worth of

00:25:02.140 back support from the federal government which allows for that transition and so i think what

00:25:07.820 what has happened is that um although there are social workers who work in hospital they haven't

00:25:15.980 been connected to the social workers who work in minister nixon's department and so this is what

00:25:21.180 we're doing with our cross ministry coordination is that creating a space for so the way this model

00:25:27.500 will work is if somebody comes into hospital for an acute need they get stabilized once they're

00:25:33.740 ready for discharge they would move into the transition space at which point the social

00:25:38.300 workers from ahs and minister nixon's department would work together to figure out how to find

00:25:43.900 that space and then we'd work with our partners and non-profit to make sure that they're either

00:25:47.820 in a home a convalescence facility mental health addiction continuing care long-term care or do the

00:25:54.620 supports of home care with the renovation to the homes but that was the missing piece is i think

00:26:01.100 that perhaps the social workers within nhs didn't realize that they had all of these services that

00:26:07.900 could be provided through continuing care so we've just done that connection one of the first things

00:26:11.820 i did as well when i first became premium was move the office of the public trustee and guardian

00:26:16.380 over to this ministry because you can imagine that if there's somebody who can't get their tax

00:26:21.420 returns done for 891 days they're probably having difficulty managing their home managing all the

00:26:27.420 yard work that has to be done they're managing some of their other needs and so there's probably

00:26:31.500 a role for someone to step in to play that navigator so i think that was was the missing

00:26:35.580 piece but i do credit dr sherman for flagging this and i'm just glad we've been able to find

00:26:39.740 some solutions do you have anything more that you want to say on that i think that well this

00:26:44.460 would be no surprise everybody i think the premier covered it very well but i also think that this is

00:26:48.700 the brilliance frankly of what minister the grange has put together for the overall transformation

00:26:53.420 because some of the other challenges is when you're trying to deal with all these complex issues

00:26:57.900 in one organizational structure it's pretty hard to manage that and so i think that's why you've

00:27:02.300 seen that that these challenges pull be taking place over decades and so by being able to break

00:27:07.740 health into four organizations that work together that means there's going to be individuals working

00:27:12.460 with other ministries that are concentrating on things like continuing care and we're not

00:27:16.540 relying on individuals who need to be really focused on acute care emergency settings and

00:27:20.700 dealing with obviously very critical issues and so i think that's why the structure is a good idea

00:27:27.020 and i think over time we're going to see the benefit of having four different divisions

00:27:31.340 concentrating on the unique unique needs of patients that are within our system

00:27:34.860 And thank you guys for your questions.

Western Standard - March 15, 2024

Alberta Allocates Funds for Continuing Care in Budget 2024：

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