Duckett removed as head of Alberta Health Services
5:00PM
Edmonton / iNews880.com
11/24/2010

The future of Stephen Duckett is no longer in limbo.

"The board... has made a decision that Dr. Duckett will no long serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Alberta Health Services." The announcement was made by Alberta Health Services' Board Chair Ken Hughes just before 5:00PM Wednesday.

The decision came after a day-long meeting. Executive Vice President of AHS, Dr. Chris Eagle, will be taking over as acting CEO. AHS will now start the process of looking for a permenant CEO.

"The Board would like to thank Dr. Duckett for his dedication to improving Alberta's health system during a challenging time of transition for Alberta Health Services," said Board Chair Ken Hughes in a release sent out Wednesday evening. "His determination to create a strong foundation for AHS will serve us well in the coming years.

"It is also clear that we need to immediately focus on the task at hand, which is to implement as quickly as possible the initiatives made possible by the province's Five-Year funding commitment," said Hughes. "These include opening more continuing care beds, reducing Emergency Department wait times and adding new capacity. Nothing else is more important to the health system right now than focusing on access and quality."

The future of Duckett as CEO has been in question after the controversial "cookie" incident last Friday. Duckett refused to speak to reporters following a key meeting on health care in downtown Edmonton, because he was eating a cookie. He apologized for his actions the next day.

Premier Ed Stelmach went so far as to call Duckett's actions "offensive."

As per his contract, Duckett will still be owed one year's salary of $575,000, plus other benefits.

In a release sent shortly after the announcement, Friends of Medicare's David Eggen said the announcement wasn't a surprise. He added the blame didn't completely rest of Duckett's shoulders.

"Mr. Duckett took his direction from the Health Minister and the Premier", says David Eggen. "We must not let Mr. Duckett's dismissal deflect the blame from those who are actually responsible for the systemic problems in health care." (sj,ks,blb)