Health System Acute-care Beds
November 15, 2010
Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Long waits in our emergency departments are just one symptom of many problems the health care system is facing. Fixing the ER issue and getting patients in the right bed in a timely manner is critical. Research tells us that a long-standing metric for acute-care beds is 1.9 per thousand people. To the Premier: what is the number of acute-care beds per thousand in Edmonton and Calgary, where the major pressures are being felt?
Mr. Stelmach: Mr. Speaker, once again the opposition is centred on the number of beds per thousand. We went through this discussion a number of years ago. There are other services that have to be provided for patients other than just the bed – that is, kidney dialysis, radiation vaults – not only just in Edmonton and Calgary but in outlying centres like in Grande Prairie and Red Deer and Lethbridge so that people don’t have to travel hundreds of miles on a weekly basis to be able to access that kind of treatment. Those are the kinds of improvements that have been made already. We will keep making those improvements not only based on the statistics that they want to look at but to make sure that the patient comes first.
Mrs. Forsyth: Well, Mr. Speaker, the answer is 1.2, below the national average.
Acute-care medical and surgical beds are desperately needed. Now, Mr. Premier, I’m not talking about rehab, I’m not talking about palliative care, and I’m not talking about transition beds. To the Premier: how many additional acute-care beds has your government opened since January 1 of this year?
Mr. Stelmach: Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I know we have to do more is to open up more continuing care beds. We have a number of acute-care beds that are tied up by individuals that have to move to the next level of care, which is continuing care. That is why we’re well into our goal of building 1,300 additional beds this year, and we’ll continue to build at least a thousand a year in order to keep up with the ever-increasing aging population.
Mrs. Forsyth: Well, Mr. Speaker, he didn’t answer that question, but let’s try this one because it’s going back into what he just finished saying. Mr. Premier, how many net new nursing home beds – and I mean nursing home beds – has your government opened? When I say nursing home beds, I mean real nursing home beds, not continuing care or assisted living, nursing home beds.
Mr. Stelmach: Mr. Speaker, I find it kind of ironic. Just a few months ago they were talking about taking $1.3 billion out of Health. Then they were musing about this two-tiered, European style of health care. All of a sudden today they’re asking for more spending and more beds. Actually, even with the additional new spending they want to do, they’re on the right track to begin with.