Western Standard - Budget 2024 Funding for Acute Care and Surgical Initiative

00:00:00.000 receive timely access to surgical care i am joined today by pete guthrie minister of infrastructure

00:00:07.840 martin long parliamentary secretary for rural health sean shilton interim vice president of

00:00:14.400 clinical operations and chief operating officer for ahs and janie clark clink senior operating

00:00:22.480 officer at the royal alexandra hospital lois hole hospital for women and sturgeon community hospital

00:00:30.800 Albertans deserve access to health care services when and where they need them.

00:00:35.920 We should not be seeing discrepancies in health care delivery or in the quality of care across

00:00:41.440 the province and every Albertan should be able to access surgical care within clinically

00:00:47.280 recommended timelines. Our government is working to refocus the health care system

00:00:53.440 to prioritize patients and improve the delivery of services in every corner of the province.

00:01:00.000 Albertans deserve reliable health care and a new integrated system will improve patient

00:01:05.880 outcomes and better support our world-class health care professionals.

00:01:11.880 But it will take time.

00:01:13.460 And while we continue to engage with Albertans and advance our refocusing efforts, we need

00:01:17.960 to take immediate steps to boost capacity, reduce wait times and find efficiencies to

00:01:23.660 address the existing surgical backlog.

00:01:27.120 Through Budget 2024, we are investing $313 million over three years in the Alberta Surgical

00:01:34.620 Initiative Capital Program.

00:01:37.460 These funds will be used to renovate surgical suites and support areas in various communities

00:01:42.740 across the province.

00:01:44.800 We are also providing $305 million to Alberta Health Services to enable the completion of

00:01:50.780 310,000 surgical procedures this year.

00:01:55.620 an increase of almost 6% from 2022-2023 year. The Alberta Surgical Initiative focused on

00:02:04.120 improving every patient's surgical journey from the moment they seek initial advice to

00:02:09.620 when they are referred to a specialist to their surgery and rehabilitation period. It

00:02:15.420 recognizes the need to put patients first and to manage capacity and to do whatever we can

00:02:21.860 ensure Albertans receive required surgeries within clinically recommended wait times.

00:02:27.220 We are also providing $159 million over three years to renovate several medical device repro

00:02:33.700 reprocessing departments which is really the sterilization areas to support surgical services

00:02:39.860 and help address the surgical backlog. So these renovations will improve efficiency and

00:02:45.300 sustainability enabling more surgeries to be performed locally budget 2024 puts albertans

00:02:52.900 first it recognizes the need to refocus our health care system while making investments

00:02:58.420 to ensure albertans have access to the care they need it prioritizes patients while improving

00:03:04.180 service delivery and empowering health care professionals and it invests in surgical care

00:03:10.820 because no one should have to wait for answers or for treatment longer than clinically recommended

00:03:16.900 the funding we are announcing today will make a real difference to patients across the province

00:03:21.780 while we continue to build a better system that supports albertans for generations to come

00:03:28.340 so thank you for being here and i'd like to invite my colleague

00:03:31.140 Minister of Infrastructure, Pete Guthrie, to say a few words.

00:03:45.860 Well, good afternoon.

00:03:47.960 I'm pleased to be here today along with Minister LaGrange.

00:03:51.500 Thank you for those words, Minister.

00:03:53.680 MLA Long, Mr. Chilton, and Ms. Klink to share this exciting news.

00:04:00.260 Now that you have just heard, Alberta's government is investing $313 million into the Alberta Surgical Initiative program to increase surgical capacity across the province.

00:04:11.440 This investment will improve health care and its timely delivery for all Albertans.

00:04:17.720 My ministry and Alberta Health Services share the responsibility for delivering these important projects throughout the province.

00:04:25.240 AHS is the lead for design initiatives up to $5 million,

00:04:29.180 and my ministry takes responsibility for those above this threshold.

00:04:34.620 Alberta Infrastructure is now working on 20 projects in 11 different communities,

00:04:40.260 and not just in our major cities.

00:04:43.080 Currently, development is underway for several of our rural communities,

00:04:47.100 including Brooks, Port Saskatchewan, Innisfil, Olds, Pinoka, and Stetler,

00:04:52.080 not to mention a couple that are nearing completion in lethbridge two operating rooms

00:04:58.320 are being upgraded and expanded along with the addition of more inpatient space when the project

00:05:04.400 is finished later this year the redevelopment will double the hospital's surgical capacity

00:05:09.280 and i'm also pleased to share that we are putting the final touches on an expansion and renovation

00:05:15.440 in rocky mountain house that will add a brand new operating room and a medical device reprocessing

00:05:21.520 department over the next few years the 2024 capital plan allocates 159 million to renovate

00:05:30.640 medical device reprocessing facilities throughout alberta this funding will benefit communities as

00:05:36.160 far north as fort mcmurray and as far south as drumheller expanding these existing facilities

00:05:43.440 enables hospital to sterilize medical equipment and instruments for reuse creating efficiencies

00:05:49.920 while also reducing costs these initiatives are not just an investment in our health care system

00:05:56.640 these projects support hundreds of jobs relating to planning design and construction as minister

00:06:03.040 i'm excited to be delivering on alberta's heavy infrastructure agenda and i look forward to what

00:06:08.880 the future holds so with that i'd like to turn it over to mla martin long parliamentary secretary

00:06:15.520 for rural health to provide some more remarks thank you minister guthrie the investments being

00:06:30.480 made through budget 2024 will result in more surgeries being completed across the province

00:06:35.520 and will benefit rural communities like the one i'm proud to call home rural and especially remote

00:06:41.820 Albertans are faced with geographic barriers, limited healthcare infrastructure, limited

00:06:46.340 access to technology, and a lack of healthcare professionals, particularly specialized healthcare

00:06:51.680 professionals like surgeons.

00:06:55.000 The current surgical wait times exacerbate these already difficult circumstances and

00:07:00.200 can lead to negative outcomes for patients and their families.

00:07:04.860 These investments are critical, and they will make a difference.

00:07:09.260 The funding being provided to the Alberta Surgical Initiative capital program will help

00:07:12.620 to bridge existing gaps by renovating surgical suites and support areas by creating new spaces

00:07:19.280 for patients to receive care.

00:07:22.100 Included in the plan are renovations to facilities in rural communities that are home to hard

00:07:25.440 working Albertans who have waited far too long for these improvements.

00:07:30.320 Budget 2024 also includes an investment of $159 million over three years for renovations

00:07:36.460 to medical device reprocessing departments across the province, including in Westlock

00:07:40.780 and Drumheller. More funding for surgeries, health infrastructure, and technology means more

00:07:47.160 Albertans from all corners of the province will receive surgeries closer to home within clinically

00:07:52.200 recommended wait times. That means more Albertans receiving the care they need when they need it,

00:07:58.140 and that is something we can all be proud of and excited about. I'd like to thank the Minister of

00:08:02.920 health for ensuring the voices of rural and remote Albertans continue being heard especially when it

00:08:07.880 comes to their health and well-being. I'm proud to be part of a government that is focused on

00:08:12.160 ensuring Albertans have a reliable accessible and equitable health care system. It is needed

00:08:17.260 and it is deserved. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and our partners to

00:08:22.120 deliver a refocused health care system that will serve our province for generations to come.

00:08:26.680 I'd now like to invite Sean Shelton to say a few words.

00:08:32.920 Thank you, Parliamentary Secretary Long, and thank you Minister Laura Grange for inviting

00:08:39.220 me here today.

00:08:40.920 Timely access to surgeries is important to Albertans and it's important to Alberta Health

00:08:44.680 Services.

00:08:45.680 Our partnership with Alberta Health on the Alberta Surgical Initiative, or ASI, is focused

00:08:51.940 on ensuring Albertans receive their scheduled surgeries within their clinically recommended

00:08:55.620 wait times.

00:08:57.120 This collaborative is making a difference.

00:08:59.420 More people are now waiting within clinically recommended wait times for their surgeries

00:09:02.600 than did before the pandemic as of march we have 61.3 percent of cases at adult sites are waiting

00:09:09.880 within clinically recommended wait times and that compares to about 52.1 percent from a year ago

00:09:16.360 there are 4 400 fewer cases waiting outside clinically recommended wait times compared

00:09:21.800 to the same time a year ago we've also made significant improvements to the surgical wait

00:09:27.000 list in 23 24 fiscal year completing approximately five percent more surgeries compared to the

00:09:32.440 previous year we're now on track for approximately 305 000 surgeries in this fiscal which includes

00:09:38.600 more than 60 000 cases today completed in chartered surgical facilities the improvement's good but we

00:09:44.920 aren't done yet and there's more to do the asi funding announced as part of budget 2024 will

00:09:51.800 allow us to further reduce wait times for albertans and increase the number of patients

00:09:55.880 accessing surgical care within clinically recommended wait times we plan to increase

00:10:00.200 the number of surgical procedures performed each year and invest in capital projects that will

00:10:04.280 help us to do that including new operating rooms and expanded medical device reprocessing spaces

00:10:09.800 my colleague Janie will speak to a few of those projects on the way here in Edmonton shortly

00:10:15.080 we'll also continue to work on provincial referral pathways so that referring providers know what

00:10:19.720 information labs and diagnostics are required when making a specialist referral this helps

00:10:25.080 triage patients as quickly as possible we're implementing the use of day surgery techniques

00:10:29.800 to minimize the use of inpatient beds and to reduce length of stays and we're also improving

00:10:34.440 the efficiency and use of existing operating rooms including building new infrastructure

00:10:38.440 and optimizing existing or space we'll also be optimizing surgical activity at our rural sites

00:10:44.040 and expanding the use of chartered surgical facilities which are independent accredited

00:10:48.360 surgical facilities to support our increased surgical activity progress is happening and

00:10:53.320 i'm pleased to see the continue continued support from the government to help support this work

00:10:58.200 I'd now like to invite Janie Klink, Senior Operating Officer for the Royal Alexander

00:11:01.720 Hospital, the Lois Hall Hospital for Women and Sturgeon Community Hospital to speak. Janie.

00:11:13.400 Thank you, Sean. Good afternoon. I'm pleased to be here today to share with you some of our work

00:11:18.840 on reducing surgical wait times in the Edmonton Zone and the benefit it's bringing to our patients

00:11:24.680 and to our hospitals. Thanks to ongoing investments into ASI by the Alberta government,

00:11:30.840 we are upgrading and adding operating rooms in our hospitals, which means increased access for

00:11:36.440 patients and increased surgical volumes. New operating rooms have been added at the University

00:11:42.360 of Alberta Hospital and the Loisall Hospital for Women. Planning is underway for additional

00:11:48.200 operating rooms at the Mazinkowski Alberta Heart Institute, the Sturgeon Community Hospital,

00:11:53.960 and the cross cancer institute these new ors will support general surgery orthopedics

00:12:01.160 obstetrics and gynecology urology and cardiology we are also investing in upgrades to the day

00:12:07.480 surgery department at the fort saskatchewan hospital which will support procedures for

00:12:11.960 gynecology and ophthalmology and we're expanding as you heard our medical device reprocessing areas

00:12:19.400 in many of our hospitals so that the teams can support the increased surgical volumes

00:12:24.680 the throughput and the demand for sterile medical instrumentation we are planning for renovations

00:12:30.360 to mdrs at the royal alexander hospital the sturgeon community hospital and the university

00:12:35.400 of alberta hospital these investments will allow our mdr teams to service more operating rooms

00:12:41.880 keep up with increases to surgical volumes and provide the highest standard of practice when

00:12:47.400 it comes to medical device reprocessing since asi was introduced it's allowed us to open new

00:12:54.040 operating rooms create and expand procedure rooms upgrade and purchase medical equipment

00:13:00.600 which allows us to increase surgical activity and capacity in the edmonton zone

00:13:05.320 hire additional and very necessary workforce to support the increase in surgical activity

00:13:10.440 and so much more we've also invested in initiatives to support those that are waiting for surgeries

00:13:16.920 Rapid access clinic in Edmonton for orthopedic patients that are presenting with conditions

00:13:22.760 hip knee and shoulder conditions the specialized clinic is going to offer a point of access for

00:13:29.880 referring providers from primary care it's going to allow for timely screening and assessments

00:13:36.360 referrals to orthopedic surgeons as required and for those patients where surgeries are not

00:13:42.280 indicated just yet it will provide assessments and screening and options and treatment plans

00:13:49.000 which will include exercises referrals and education as patients are waiting or going

00:13:55.480 through their their non-surgical journeys for patients the initiatives underway and across the

00:14:02.280 province as a result of asi a great value add our partners in covenant health who are part of our

00:14:10.760 our surgical programs have also got site projects and initiatives underway supporting asi and

00:14:17.400 surgical care for patients in the edmonton area i'm very grateful for the ongoing work and support

00:14:22.840 for asi and i look forward to working collaboratively with our healthcare partners

00:14:27.800 and our ultimate goal of ensuring that albertans are receiving their surgeries within clinically

00:14:33.960 appropriate wait times and increasing access and care for all albertans thank you

00:14:42.120 all right thanks guys um with that we will turn it over to questions i'm not sure that you can

00:14:46.360 hear me but um just a note as i said previously we do have until 1 10 to get the ministers up to

00:14:52.520 question period um and we'll start with questions in the room and um just to keep things rolling

00:14:58.280 timely we'll stick to one question one follow-up go over to the phones and then come back to the

00:15:02.040 room for additional questions if we have time so please raise your hand if you would like to ask

00:15:06.440 a question and with that go ahead sure yeah for the minister um i'm hearing from some doctors who

00:15:13.080 say the workforce really has been decimated that they haven't worked a shift in the last three

00:15:16.600 months where they haven't been short-staffed of this i see the 305 million going towards these

00:15:21.720 310 000 surgeries this year how confident are you that we actually have the staff to be able to

00:15:25.800 perform those surgeries and if not what's being done to recruit them well we're already at um as

00:15:31.080 sean indicated uh 305 000 for this year this would be adding an additional 5 000 on top of that

00:15:37.960 my understanding is that we do have the staff in place obviously there are certain aspects

00:15:43.320 of staffing of the workforce that are more challenging than others particularly pardon me

00:15:49.000 particularly around anesthesia and so ahs has been working diligently to recruit more anesthesiologists

00:15:57.480 across the province and uh there's additional work being done in that area

00:16:02.760 sean i'm not sure if you'd like to add anything to this conversation

00:16:08.280 thanks i just say that uh you know workforce is always something that we're concerned about

00:16:13.080 and uh but we continue to work hard at recruitment and uh and retention it's important that we keep

00:16:19.640 the people that we have as well as recruit new people so a major focus of ours is on uh

00:16:25.240 Canadian and international recruitment and some focused efforts to see if we can actually

00:16:31.280 ensure that we have the right workforce in place to support the work.

00:16:34.400 We're starting to see some gains, but there's still some work to be done.

00:16:37.820 Just as a follow-up, looking closer at the budget, it looks like 45 million of the

00:16:42.660 313 will be spent this year.

00:16:44.580 So I know there was some information provided by Ms. Klink in regards to what's been done

00:16:48.740 I think in previous years, but just looking for some clarification of that 45 million

00:16:52.520 for this year, where will that go in Edmonton?

00:16:55.000 um i'll turn that back over to um jamie if you have those numbers otherwise we can get the

00:17:02.760 the detail breakdown for where it's going in edmonton thank you yeah thanks mr lagrange i

00:17:10.600 think you know we can get the detail numbers i think we've got 18 projects actually um planned

00:17:16.120 for 2024 in the edmonton zone alone and that's just a portion of the projects in the in the

00:17:22.760 province um some of them have been continued or i mean have been started and are continuing into

00:17:28.520 this next fiscal year and a lot of them actually are planned and and new but i think it's 18 we

00:17:33.320 can get you the numbers yes so um there's obviously there's infrastructure led and then there is

00:17:43.160 those that are led by ahs um in edmonton uh gray nuns is recording royal alec uh walter mckenzie

00:17:53.800 and u of a are projects that uh that are being done through infrastructure and then um through ahs

00:18:03.560 royal alec has uh has a couple of them going um the lowest hole that we've already discussed

00:18:11.080 So yeah, Royal Alec has another, Cross Cancer, and Mazinkowski, as well as U of A.

00:18:21.380 Jonathan, go ahead.

00:18:22.600 Jonathan Bradley, Western Standard.

00:18:24.520 So you said that there's going to be about what you've committed to performing 310,000 surgical procedures this year.

00:18:31.580 What type of surgeries do you anticipate most of those being?

00:18:34.240 well they run the full gamut of surgeries um you know from minor to more complex surgeries

00:18:41.500 um what we are seeing is that that we're able to utilize the chartered surgical facilities

00:18:48.540 they're they're doing approximately 60 000 surgeries a year they alleviate the stress

00:18:56.020 on our hospitals so that they can do the more complex surgeries so it's everything but again

00:19:03.340 we're wanting to make sure that they're done within clinically approved timelines and going

00:19:08.380 from uh pre-pandemic i believe we were at about 40 percent within clinically approved timelines now

00:19:14.240 we're over 60 we want to see that number go even higher i'd love to see 100 okay with uh with that

00:19:21.180 being said um you said many of the surgeries will be taking place at chartered surgical facilities

00:19:25.660 um where do you stand well chartered surgical facilities are doing approximately 60 000 the

00:19:31.500 remainder of that uh 305 000 that currently are being done this year are at all of our hospitals

00:19:37.580 across the province and again we want to utilize those smaller uh hospital settings and that's why

00:19:42.500 we we are investing in capital infrastructure right across the whole province i was going to

00:19:47.180 ask uh where do you stand on expanding the chartered surgical facilities further well they have a place

00:19:51.800 uh very much um you know if you think of a chartered surgical facility facility very much like

00:19:56.880 a doctor's clinic they they put up their own capital they build their own facility

00:20:01.840 and then we pay them for the work that they do it's all publicly funded work that they do

00:20:08.480 there is a place for them because again they allow for that expansion of of capacity across

00:20:13.680 the province so they have a role to play and as i indicated earlier they do alleviate the stress

00:20:19.920 on our our hospitals so that they can do those more complex surgeries where you need you know

00:20:25.280 more complex teams around uh to support the physician the surgeon thank you yeah the surgical

00:20:32.960 uh wait time dashboard it looks like in the past few years the wait times have been in that um

00:20:41.760 40 to 60 percent range for out of out of scope the last few years when do you hope to see that

00:20:49.760 as you say 100 percent or 90 percent when you actually hope to see some real movement well as

00:20:55.760 soon as possible we're certainly striving we're taking that multi-pronged approach by everything

00:21:00.400 that you've heard here today um but again i i have said this before i'd rather um under promise and

00:21:07.120 over deliver um you know i don't want to put a timeline on it we will work to to get everyone

00:21:13.680 to that hundred percent within clinically approved timelines but right now we still have backlogs to

00:21:20.160 deal with and i can't anticipate what other issues may come up as we go and i'm wondering um for these

00:21:27.840 clinics do we have any data on how often patients are then referred to acute care centers for

00:21:35.840 complications such as infections well all of those would be tracked i i'm not aware

00:21:42.480 of any huge numbers. I'm not sure if you have any of those.

00:21:46.880 Yeah, I wouldn't have the data available, but it is something that we track as part of our agreement

00:21:51.200 with those chastisement facilities. 0.94

00:21:58.160 All right, excellent. Operator, is there anyone on the line?

00:22:03.840 No questions at the time.

00:22:05.760 Perfect. Okay, so we'll do one more pass through the room if anyone has any additional questions to ask.

00:22:09.600 all right perfect then we will wrap thanks guys thank you thanks everyone

Western Standard - March 27, 2024

Budget 2024 Funding for Acute Care and Surgical Initiative

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