SUNDRE – The Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre riding’s MLA has dismissed as “another misleading NDP talking point” concerns expressed by the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) regarding an Alberta Health Services memorandum instructing senior leaders to reduce the use of overtime and agency staffing by at least 10 per cent.
In a pre-written email statement sent late on Friday afternoon by one of the minister’s communications specialists in response to questions about how these measures will alleviate staffing pressures that hospitals already face and how this development reconciled with Nixon’s promise that there will be no cuts on the frontlines, he said, “The memo does not demand staffing cuts.”
Nixon said the memo from AHS directing leadership to reduce overtime and agency staffing by at least 10 per cent would not target front-line workers and went on to say that additional staff – including nurses, physicians, and other health-care professionals – is even being brought onboard.
“In fact, AHS has more than 1,550 clinical employees now than in April 2023,” reads part of the the statement attributed to the minister, without specifying the types of positions.
“The memo from AHS leadership requests AHS senior leaders to look at four overall actions to help limit non-clinical spending. This includes requiring permission to recruit non-clinical positions and restricting discretionary spending on areas such as non-clinical travel and equipment.”
The NDP was not mentioned to the minister’s communicator in the questions submitted by the Albertan seeking more specifically a response to the UNA’s Jan. 8 presser.
However, the NDP did issue its own statement in response to the UNA’s concerns on Jan. 9 to declare solidarity with nurses across the province.
“At a time when our hospitals are buckling under unprecedented demand, it is outrageous and indefensible for the UCP to demand AHS cut back on the very staff working hard to keep Albertans healthy,” David Shepherd, Alberta NDP Health Critic for Primary and Rural Care was quoted as saying.
“We stand alongside the United Nurses of Alberta and share their extreme concern regarding the recent memo from Alberta Health Services. It is nothing short of a betrayal to those on the front-lines of a health-care system already stretched to the breaking point.”
A copy of the AHS memo that was issued by Michael Lam, the agency’s chief financial officer, and subsequently obtained by the union informed senior leaders that the health-care agency anticipates an “operating deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.”
Lam’s memo cited “increased vacancies and unplanned absences” as the primary reasons driving up “increased costs and overtime” and went onto call for action “to continue to meet our high standard of care and realize a balanced budget.”
Outlining four strategies for senior managers to immediately implement, Lam’s instructions included: requiring the approval of a vice-president or executive leadership team member to recruit for any vacant position with the exception of existing non-management positions in clinical areas; ending discretionary spending on travel and non-clinical equipment such as office supplies; and no further spending by departments that have not spent their entire allotted budget for the year.
Further, “all areas are asked to monitor and implement strategies to reduce the use of overtime and agency staffing in their areas by at least 10 per cent, while minimizing impacts to front-line service delivery,” the memo stated.
In their presser, the UNA’s president, Heather Smith was quoted as saying, “It’s all very well to talk about minimizing impacts to front-line services, but this simply cannot be done while cutting emergency staffing and overtime by 10 per cent.
“This is a prescription for driving nurses and other health-care workers out of the province and out of the profession,” she said. “This is absolutely contrary to what the government says it intends to do to encourage front-line health-care services in Alberta.”
Smith also lamented provincial officials for effectively blaming “health-care workers taking sick time for the problems in the system.”
The emergency department at Sundre’s hospital, the Myron Thompson Health Centre, experienced temporary closures over the holidays due to a shortage of physician coverage, as did many other hospitals throughout Alberta. Click here for updates on ongoing closures and service disruptions.
Photos taken by patients in hospitals in both Calgary and Red Deer also showed improvised screening rooms set up by staff using duct tape and tarps amid a surge of respiratory illness ranging from the cold and flu to COVID-19 and RVS.
