Mr. Duckett has won us all over

Bed closures will save $50M, says Alberta superboard


By Jodie Sinnema, edmontonjournal.comSeptember 17, 2009 6:13 AMComments (88)


EDMONTON -
Many patients who move out of the approximately Alberta 300 hospital beds slated for closure over the next three years will face higher costs and reduced care as they move into 775 new community spaces, critics say.
Stephen Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services, said Wednesday patients who no longer need acute care will be better off away from the constant lights and noise of hospitals.
The new places--the majority of which are assisted-living beds with associated costs--will have staff trained to foster independence, he said.
Critics say the move hoists costs onto families and will result in worse care for people who are getting older and sicker.
"The plan for this government is to move critically ill seniors from acute-care hospital beds into primarily facilities which are not regulated in the same way, which are not inspected the same way, which are not governed the same way and which do not provide the same level of care," NDP MLA Rachel Notley said.
She made her comment after Alberta Health Services released its plan to close 140 Edmonton-area hospital beds in three years and another 150 in Calgary.
Patients in Edmonton will be moved into 420 new community beds planned for the capital region. Many will be operated by private companies under contract to the health superboard.
"The only thing that those facilities provide more of is bills for the people who live in them," Notley said, adding that assisted-living facilities don't have the same staff-patient ratios required in publicly funded long-term care facilities.
Of those beds, 150 are being created in Covenant Health's Villa Caritas to replace some of the 246 mental health beds to close at Alberta Hospital. Duckett said other mental health-beds are being created elsewhere to pick up the need, including 45 slated for the Royal Alexandra and University hospitals, among others.
Another 60 general hospital beds --20 in Edmonton, 40 in Calgary --will also empty as patients not in acute care move out. The beds will be saved for emergency cases, such as those that would be needed in a flu pandemic.
"If we need those beds to provide acute care a week or six months or a year from now, we will use them," Duckett said. "What I can say is we need new community capacity right now."
The bed closures and reduced staff will save the health region $35 million to $50 million a year, with$26 million funnelled to create the community programs, $13 million each in Edmonton and Calgary.
It costs $13,000 to $32,000 a year to house someone in a lodge or in supportive programs, compared to $57,000 a year for a nursing-home bed and $150,000 to $200,000 to keep that patient in a hospital.
Dr. Chip Doig, president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association, said he wished Alberta Health Services consulted with doctors and medical experts before coming up with the plan. He doesn't know if the extra community spaces will free up enough hospital beds to relieve the crunch in emergencies and offset bed closures.
"In my practical experience, that math doesn't hold," Doig said, especially when Alberta's two biggest cities provide specialized health care to people across the province. "Closing beds in Calgary and Edmonton may have a significant impact in all the zones across the province."
"There is a big shift to privatization here," Liberal MLA Kevin Taft said. "They are downloading the cost of care to individuals in order to balance a budget that they so badly mismanaged."
David Eggen, with Friends of Medicare, agreed, saying the health system is funnelling public money -- "a gift," Eggen said--to support private entrepreneurs.
BY THE NUMBERS
THE EDMONTON AREA SITUATION HOSPITALS - 386 hospital bed closures over the next three years. - That includes: - 246 beds at Alberta Hospital - 30 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital - 30 at University Hospital - 30 between the Misericordia and - 50 more between the hospitals in - Another 40 beds will also be - 420 community spaces will be open - That includes: - 150 mental-health beds at Villa Caritas, which was originally meant for patients from the Edmonton General Hospital who will now stay put. Construction is slated to finish next May. Some patient beds will be funded in the same way as public hospital beds. Others will be designated assisted living
beds, where some health services are publicly covered and others require patients to cover some costs.
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com