Alberta Allocates Funds for Continuing Care in Budget 2024：
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Summary
Learn English with the Premier of Alberta, Rachel Notley. In Budget 2024, Alberta will invest $26.2 billion to improve primary care, add capacity, reduce wait times, grow the workforce, and advance the government's Health Care Action Plan, which refocuses the province's health care system on four areas of focus: Primary care, acute care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction.
Transcript
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Minister of Health, Jason Nixon, our Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services,
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and Faisal Keshebji, Chair of the Alberta Continuing Care Association.
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Albertans want to know that our health care system is there when they need it and where they need it.
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They deserve no less, and that's why our government made health care a top priority in Budget 2024.
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We invested a record $26.2 billion to improve primary health care, add capacity, reduce wait times,
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grow the workforce, and advance the health care action plan.
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But we'd set the wheels in motion long before our budget was released last month.
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Last November, we made a promise to improve health care delivery by refocusing the health care system.
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And we're in the process of creating four specialized areas of focus, primary care, acute care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction.
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Budget 2024 provides the funding for decisive actions in each of those areas,
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including significant investments in continuing care already under pressure as Alberta's population
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continues to grow and grow older and as more people require more care for more complex needs.
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For example, there are a number of patients in hospital who no longer need hospital care
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but still require specialized support. These are referred to as alternative level of care
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patients and what we have found is that it is taking far longer than it should to transition
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Albertans from a hospital to more appropriate care setting such as continuing care or in other
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community support services. This came to sharp focus this past December when Minister Adriana
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LaGrange visited the Royal Alexandra Hospital and connected with a specialist in the ER who flagged
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that they had approximately 27 patients in hospital ready to be discharged but could not be discharged
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because their taxes and other financial issues were not complete as a result these patients could
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not qualify for the social assistance they needed to ensure their care continued after they were
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discharged on average about 1500 albertans are in hospital beds waiting to be moved almost half
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are transferred within seven days to a more appropriate setting than a hospital and most
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within 25 days but there's a percentage of patients with more complex needs who remain
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in hospitals much longer than necessary and while alberton alberta actually leads the country in
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managing alternative levels of care patient uh patients we know that there's more work to be
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done to reduce these wait times we want to ensure patients receive the care they need in the most
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appropriate setting whether it's a long-term care facility a community support facility or an
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appropriate home care support service we are focused on transferring patients facing specific
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challenges to an appropriate care setting by embedding teams within ahs with support from
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alberta health seniors community and social services and mental health and addiction
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these teams will focus on removing barriers to care that could include financial or legal issues
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or homelessness we are reviewing the decision making process to shorten the time it takes to
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assess the type of continuing care supports that a patient needs and through budget 2024 we're
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making significant investments in continuing care spaces in the province before i invite minister
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lagrange to the podium let me reiterate that our government is committed to ensuring access to
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quality public health care for all albertans improving access to alternative levels of care
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and continuing care will benefit not only patients but also the overall health care system
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the investments that we're making and the actions that we're taking including refocusing
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our health care system allow us to focus on accountability service delivery and effective
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governance of both the acute care and continuing care sectors and most importantly improving our
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health care system enables us to focus on the patient and provide albertans with the care they
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need when and where earlier albertans deserve no less thank you and i now ask adrian lagrange to
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take the mic thank you premier and good afternoon everyone as premier mentioned we are dedicated to
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ensuring that albertans who access our health care system get the care they need in the most
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appropriate setting for them for some that means securing a spot in a continuing care home after
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they've been treated in hospital we must remember that at the heart of a situation like this are
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human beings at a very vulnerable time in their lives just because they no longer require hospital
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care does not mean they do not still require some level of care and support but as it is now it
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often takes days if not weeks to find the right spaces for these individuals and spending that
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wait time in a hospital is not the right course of action that is why budget 2024 includes an
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investment of 1.7 billion with a b billion dollars into the continuing care system in alberta
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this will ensure albertans get the appropriate level of care and support they need and want
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whether it is in a continuing care home or in their personal home or in their community
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our investment is enabling the transformation of continuing care in alberta which is dedicated
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to creating a system that is more responsive and sustainable which will not only help address
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pressures in continuing care but it will also help our acute care system this funding includes 654
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million over three years for the continuing care capital program which supports uh projects that
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will add or improve more than 1600 continuing care spaces for albertans
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But the particularly exciting thing is that we're not just adding beds in buildings.
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At the same time, we are making a particular effort to develop new and innovative models
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This includes funding for small homes, which will be a home for 4 to 14 individuals, residents,
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and are designed to serve those in rural or remote communities or those with complex needs.
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it could be continuing care homes that offer comprehensive in-house health services bringing
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together different types and levels of continuing care into one integrated community practically
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speaking this means couples or families or friends with varying needs can choose to continue to live
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together and not be separated because of those varying needs also we will be creating culturally
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appropriate spaces to support indigenous groups on and off reserves and metis settlements as well
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and deliberately we're adding new spaces in geographical areas where there is the greatest
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need but while we are working on developing excellent options for albertans in continuing
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care homes i think many of us would say that if possible we would want to age at home and stay
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living independently therefore we are also wanting to support albertans in that choice
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which is why we are also working on bolstering supports in home and community care that includes
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funding to home care pilot projects that will provide wraparound services and supports for
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clients returning home from hospital and funds for community projects to support older albertans
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with non-medical services such as transportation housekeeping and even snow removal sometimes
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these are all that is needed to enable someone to stay in their own home supporting albertans as
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they age and providing the care they need and want will not only take pressure off the continuing
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care system but as i said earlier it will help keep people out of the acute care system in the
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first place i am proud of the progress we've made in transforming continuing care in alberta
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and i have no doubt this work prepares our province for the future where demand for quality
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and choice in continuing care home and community care and indeed our entire health care system
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will only continue to grow and so now i would like to invite minister nixon up to say a few words
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Thank you, Adriana, and good afternoon, everyone. The Premier has given all of her Cabinet and the
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Government of Alberta a mandate to make sure that our province remains the best place to live,
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raise a family, and retire in our country. For the Department of Seniors, Community,
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and Social Services, that means ensuring Albertans have access to social services that they need,
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but also making sure that our social services departments are working closely with our partner
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ministries including the ministry of health to provide supports in a collaborative way
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to benefit all albertans sorry it is a priority of our government to make sure that people who
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rely on our system including seniors and people with disabilities have access to the best care
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possible in their chosen communities to do this seniors community and social services is currently
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supporting the ministry of health and alberta health services with the transition of individuals
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out of acute care and into more appropriate care settings for their needs and for the quality of
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life seniors community and social services has formed teams that have been working directly
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with alberta health and alberta health services to support patients moving out of acute care
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into alternative levels of care these teams are made up of staff from several divisions
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within the ministry of seniors community and social services including our financial services
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division senior services division disability services homelessness services and the office
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of the public guardian and trustee these teams are addressing barriers to leaving acute care
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in our health system they are rapidly connecting patients with things like benefit programs
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disability supports community services and other non-medical supports to help people return home
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or enter more appropriate care settings in their communities we know that some patients waiting to
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leave acute care require home modifications things like wheelchair ramps or washroom bars
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or non-medical supports like transportation and housekeeping and even snow removal which is why
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I have directed my department to make sure all programs within my department are given priority
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immediately to any alternative level of care patient who needs to be able to leave the hospital
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faster and ultimately to make sure they receive the support they need in this in their community.
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This work is ensuring that patients coming out of the hospital are being immediately connected with
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supports in their communities. Alberta's government believes that it is best when seniors and people
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with complex needs can live in the communities closest to the support network our focus will
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remain on getting people a place to stay and into the community that is most appropriate for their
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needs this means investing in places for people to call home in their communities one of the big
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ways that we do that is through alberta's senior lodge program the lodge program is our oldest
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affordable housing program and provides affordable housing to tens of thousands of albertans who
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still need to and are receiving services they need while still living in a community setting.
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We are currently working with Alberta Health to identify how to use existing vacancies in our
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Lodge system to help patients who need to leave acute care in the hospital get an appropriate
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level of care in the community. Government has also appointed a panel to review our Lodge program
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and make sure that our Lodge system is sustainable for the future. This panel is also exploring how
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to improve connection to Alberta's continuing care system, making sure that the right level
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of care is available to seniors in their communities finding these improvements in
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the lodge system will help take pressure off of the acute care system in the long run
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while providing a welcoming community for all albertans these initiatives in addition to
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investments and more affordable housing options our province will support albertans including
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seniors and those with complex health and social needs who can live independently with assisted
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care in an affordable setting last fall i was pleased to join minister lagrange and minister
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Williams to announce how we are working closely together on a new continuing care organization
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as part of the health transition that is focused on patients first and that will connect all those
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waiting for continuing care with streamlined effective services services for both medical
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and community that they can rely on in the future this collaboration on the refocused continuing
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care organization will ensure that housing community-based care and non-medical supports
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are priority for Albertans as they require different levels and types of care as Albertans
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As age and our population grows, people require more complex supports, which is why Alberta
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will continue to invest in housing and communities that allow all Albertans to live dignified
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And with that, I would like to call up to the podium Faisal Keshevji, who's a dear friend
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He's the chair of the Alberta Continuing Care Association and a great resource for both
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Minister LaGrange and ICE departments to talk a little bit about our announcement today.
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Thank you, Minister, Madam Premier, Minister LaGrange.
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Today marks a great milestone in Alberta's healthcare landscape, and on behalf of the
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members of the Alberta Continuing Care Association, we are grateful for government's determined
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The initiatives unveiled today signify boldly forward in addressing the critical challenges
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entrenched within our healthcare system, backed by tangible commitments and strategic investments.
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The announcement of $1.7 billion with a B dollars allocated towards continuing care alongside
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targeted efforts to reduce wait times for alternate level of care or ALC patients underscores
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a concerted effort to revolutionize access and efficiency in healthcare provision.
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By streamlining patient flow and facilitating prompt transitions to appropriate care settings,
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including more care in the client's home, we are not only easing the burden on our acute
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care facilities, but also safeguarding the well-being of individuals in dire need of
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Budget 2024's continuation of the $1 billion over three years for continuing care transformation
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signifies a monumental investment in the future of health care in Alberta.
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This funding will empower a multitude of initiatives aimed at fortifying community care services,
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augmenting workforce capacity and training, and enhancing quality of care standards across
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the spectrum furthermore the continuing care capital program with a much needed budget of 654
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million over three years represents a resolute commitment to infrastructure expansion paving
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the way for the creation of over 1600 new continuing care spaces these numbers paint a
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vivid picture of the need of end of our members commitment to ensuring equitable access to care
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for all Albertans irrespective of their circumstances beyond these infrastructure
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enhancements the immediate establishment of over 150 temporary continuing care spaces
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and another almost thousand spaces by 2025 and the inception of a new continuing care
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organization exemplify a proactive approach to health care delivery by addressing immediate
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challenges while laying the groundwork for more integrated and seamless care care continuum
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these initiatives herald a new dawn for the continuing care sector i know minister lagrange
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is working with our federal counterpart to solidify the aging with dignity program and
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that will truly enhance home community care with primary care something that is going to
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be truly welcomed in this sector in closing on behalf of the members of the alberta continuing
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care association i extend my gratitude to our government for their visionary leadership and
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dedication to the health and well-being of Albertans. Today's announcements not only
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signify a significant milestone but also underscore our collective resolve to building
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a healthcare system that is resilient, responsive, and equitable for all. Thank you.
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Thank you. We'll now move into questions. We'll start off here in the room of course with one
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question and one follow-up and hands. We'll start with you Catherine and then we'll go to Lisa.
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um sure so um this spring we're expecting that legislation that creates that continuing care
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pillar um and so remind me for the continuing care facilities that are currently managed by ahs
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who's going to manage them under the new system well right now ahs operates roughly about 28
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of all the continuing care in the province that will continue once the continuing care
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organization is set up then they will look to oversee it and it may be through a contract
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with alberta health services but at this point in time it will continue to be alberta health services
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and we mentioned that that transparency piece so i'm wondering are we going to see a wait
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time dashboard um reported regularly like a week or are we going to see annual reports to
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legislature how are we going to make sure you're doing what you're saying you're doing well we're
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actually working on a dashboard that we hope to have up very soon we've been doing a lot of work
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we needed to modernize the look and accessibility and so we want to make sure that when we put it up
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it will be accurate and in fact that albertans can actually use it to engage with with ourselves in
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terms of you know where services available i'm i'm excited to bring it forward when we're ready
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you mentioned that um we wanted to put investments geographically where there's the most need in
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continuing care so i wanted to just provide a few more details about the temporary continuing
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care spaces uh in the release the 50 that have been created so far and i think just over a
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thousand by 2025 where are those going well currently in the problem in province we have
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roughly about 450 transitional spaces will so we have upgraded and increased that by additional
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spaces so when we talk about transitional spaces those are places where individuals would go to
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have further assessment or to further convalesce before they go to their next level of care whether
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that's back to home or perhaps into a different community type setting so we are looking to
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increase those numbers we're working as minister nixon said it's a cross ministry approach i really
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think the only way we're going to tackle the issues that we see within our health care system
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is really to have that collaboration across ministry anyone who knows me would know that i'm
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a huge fan of authentic wraparound services where we put the patient at the center of the care and
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then bring the people to the individual what do you need when where do you need it how do we get
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you to the right level of care that you need at this point in time in your life so sorry yeah I
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didn't I didn't understand that from the press release the temporary means transitional spaces
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transitional usually it means transitional spaces and I'm also wondering um for Faisal if you might
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be able to answer this one um you noted that 1600 the 1600 new spaces I mean how does that
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factor into the need currently in Alberta for more spaces like it could be closer to 10,000 spaces
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that we need so isn't this just a drop in the bucket yeah you've got you've got to start
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somewhere uh you know land is expensive all of those things have to be factored in right so it's
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what can we build in the next foreseeable future when we look out over the next five or six years
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I think we've estimated there is a need for about 10 10 000 uh spaces but that's because Albertans
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are aging and we've got to meet that need so right now in alberta over the age of 65 it's roughly one
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in seven albertans are over the age of 65 in 20 years that number will actually grow to about one
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in five um well because i think it's actually the most important question to minister grange's
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earlier point this is why we're working to make sure multiple ministries are involved to tackle
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this challenge because i don't think it's the minister's position or the government's position
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that we're going to be able to build all of those units nor that we need to we need to build as many
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as we can but there are other solutions that can help deal with some of those 10 000 spaces that
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may not be the traditional continuing care facility that you've seen in the past and our
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lodge facilities and that you will see be tackled through some of the smaller facilities that the
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minister spoke about in her remarks but further that uh with bigger investments inside home care
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and then overlap with some of the community care initiatives that we do so you know for
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example when we we have individuals that go into either the lodge program and or to some type of
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long-term medical care often that may only need something as simple as ramps installed we know
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that our healthy aging grants that provide snow removal in certain circumstances can move towards
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that independent living for maybe for the rest of that individual's life but if not to prolong their
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time uh in their own home and so it's not just capital investment lodges that's part of it but
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it's continuing to invest across the system to be able to make sure that we can utilize all the
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tools that we have thank you perfect and we'll go over to the phones operator did we have any
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callers in the queue no questions in the queue thank you um go for it i wanted to ask minister
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lagrange so going back to the mnp report and a lot of the details that were in that
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kind of before your time but it's still guiding a lot of what the government is doing there were
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some recommendations about hours of care and then we recently just saw these orders in council that
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dealt with different standards of care and guidelines i'm wondering and if i recall
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correctly your predecessor minister coughing said that they were looking at that hours of care piece
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and hoping to bring that into it as well do you have a timeline on when we might see hours of
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care be brought into those standards of care raise it up to like four hours a day or something like
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that so we actually increased hours of care and I can ask Faisal to speak to that a little bit
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more broadly by I believe it was 0.25 hours during my predecessor's time and I also know that in the
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new regulations that are are coming forward to support the legislation that as you said earlier
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comes into effect on april 1st that there's flexibility built into to the um the workforce
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strategy uh so that uh because what we were hearing from providers was that they needed
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flexibility but i'm happy to invite fazel if he feels he could respond to that more with on the
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ground knowledge yeah thank you thank you minister yeah uh lisa i think uh minister said we've already
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started increasing hours of care part of it is there's the balance of supply and demand right
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so uh we know we want to have as many hours of care i think alberta is actually well positioned
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from an hours of care compared to other provinces uh it's also the workforce has to be there to to
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deliver it so we're working in lockstep and the regulations will help solidify that but we've
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got to make sure that as the legislation comes out we actually have the workforce so there's
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okay yeah one more from you and then we'll spend okay and then we'll wrap
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okay um well i remember like when raw sherman was in his liberal leader
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era he was he was saying this exact same thing that our acute care system
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is is filled with with people who are better suited to continuing care that
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people should be aging in their own homes so
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i mean why why does it take so long when we've known this for
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at least a decade decade now well i can i will say raj has been an advisor to me all the way
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um going back to when he was first in politics as well and so when we started down the pathway
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of refocusing the system one of the the first things that we wanted to do is quantify how many
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alternative levels of care patients there were and we getting the long-term care patients waiting was
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a fairly easy task but it did take several weeks for us to be able to identify that there are
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various others there are individuals who because they're homeless may end up with an injury on the
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street and because there's nowhere to go to convalesce they're staying in acute care because
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we haven't completed the construction yet of our mental health facilities for recovery communities
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there's some of those individuals for mental health and addiction who are also in those beds
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i think the longest story i should probably let minister nixon tell it was an individual 74 years
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old who was waiting 891 days that's two and a half years and part of the issue was also getting his
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tax returns done so that when that finally got done he was entitled to 48 000 worth of
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back support from the federal government which allows for that transition and so i think what
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what has happened is that um although there are social workers who work in hospital they haven't
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been connected to the social workers who work in minister nixon's department and so this is what
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we're doing with our cross ministry coordination is that creating a space for so the way this model
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will work is if somebody comes into hospital for an acute need they get stabilized once they're
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ready for discharge they would move into the transition space at which point the social
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workers from ahs and minister nixon's department would work together to figure out how to find
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that space and then we'd work with our partners and non-profit to make sure that they're either
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in a home a convalescence facility mental health addiction continuing care long-term care or do the
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supports of home care with the renovation to the homes but that was the missing piece is i think
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that perhaps the social workers within nhs didn't realize that they had all of these services that
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could be provided through continuing care so we've just done that connection one of the first things
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i did as well when i first became premium was move the office of the public trustee and guardian
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over to this ministry because you can imagine that if there's somebody who can't get their tax
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returns done for 891 days they're probably having difficulty managing their home managing all the
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yard work that has to be done they're managing some of their other needs and so there's probably
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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