The most recent information I read was about the H1N1 influenza vaccinations.
It was wrong for the nurses to give out the vaccinations when the program was supposed to be halted, but I also understand their position. The province screwed up big time with the way the priority was handled. Sitting around while the vaccine expired wouldn't have been beneficial. I don't know why the province didn't immediately ok vaccines to some groups, even if they only started with those who were in hospitals or long-term nursing care..
carolla
Posted on: 01/20/2013 23:49
hi chemgal - I'm not in your province & don't know what you're refering to ... is there a link or story you can provide?
chemgal
Posted on: 01/21/2013 00:04
Carolla, I assumed this would be covered nationally, just less detailed. It's about how some have been getting preferential treatment, like when the Flames got the H1N1 vaccine when others couldn't. That was the most public when it occurred, but there have been other problems as well, like requests for VIPs to be given extra care in emerge. It will take a while for all the details to be sorted out.
The inquiry is a narrowed down version of what was really needed: an inquiry that would also look at bullying within Alberta Health Services and how excessively lucrative contracts were given to many officials and board members. It is only allowed to examine queue jumping and preferential treatment. The information about queue jumping for colonoscopies was interesting. Unfortunately there was no reporting that waits are now down to a few months at most and days or weeks in cases where there is a need for urgency. But the media and others have little interest in sharing good news.
As one political columnist wrote, it is concerning that many very highly paid officials have terribly poor memories when it came to questions about preferential treatment. It makes one wonder how competent they really were and how they got their positions.
chemgal
Posted on: 01/22/2013 12:38
Jim, I had tuned out a bit when I first heard about the colon cancer screening jumping. It was bad for a while.
Canadian Press wrote:
The inquiry has heard that Helios patients were referred, examined and treated in weeks or months while ordinary Albertans waited three years or more to be seen.
Dr. Bridges sounds like an ass. I wonder how involved he used to be with medical school admissions. I know that in the past there were some people who were accepted where based purely on typical admissions merit and my estimations, surprised me. There usually was a large donation made by someone in the family though.
chemgal
Posted on: 01/22/2013 12:55
Here's a summary of some of the issues that have been brought up so far:
I looked up the website for the Helios clinic. It just has a page about their approach, but otherwise isn't up and running. It doesn't even mention the location or city. You would think a clinic where you pay $10000 there would be a decent website!
carolla
Posted on: 01/22/2013 19:35
Thanks for the links chemgal - interesting. There are certainly private 'executive' health clinics & services in many provinces - they usually have their own diagnostic & sometimes surgical facilities & are for profit - thus taking people out of public lines & waiting lists that the rest of us may encounter - so not a completely bad thing, IMO. Some of them make it as businesses, others don't.
Certainly, some VIPs and big donors are given 'different' care if/when they are admitted to hospital - for a whole variety of reasons - some good and valid reasons, others not so much. The media will make mountains of some of them.
chemgal
Posted on: 01/22/2013 21:01
Carolla, I don't have a problem with private clinics. I do have a problem when those private clinics put someone as needing urgent care in the public system, when they need just standard screening.
As for hospitals, I think most of us are understanding of some of the privacy concerns for a VIP. It's the jumping ahead (or at least attempts to) that I have an issue with.
Not everything in the inquiry was in the summary of course either. I am a little frustrated hearing about things. I've had it where a test needed to be done within a certain time period, no appointments were free and there were no guarantees that if I walked in it would be done in the time period it needed to be done. Then you hear at a similar type of facility, a VIP walks in and expects to be at the front, for what I assume was a non-time sensitive test. I am glad to hear the front line health care workers aren't pushovers just because a patient has some political pull!
chemgal
Posted on: 06/12/2013 17:34
The entire AHS board was canned. Not completely related, but figured this was still a good place.
They decided to give executives bonuses when the province told them not to.
Comments
chemgal
Posted on: 01/20/2013 16:57
The most recent information I read was about the H1N1 influenza vaccinations.
It was wrong for the nurses to give out the vaccinations when the program was supposed to be halted, but I also understand their position. The province screwed up big time with the way the priority was handled. Sitting around while the vaccine expired wouldn't have been beneficial. I don't know why the province didn't immediately ok vaccines to some groups, even if they only started with those who were in hospitals or long-term nursing care..
carolla
Posted on: 01/20/2013 23:49
hi chemgal - I'm not in your province & don't know what you're refering to ... is there a link or story you can provide?
chemgal
Posted on: 01/21/2013 00:04
Carolla, I assumed this would be covered nationally, just less detailed. It's about how some have been getting preferential treatment, like when the Flames got the H1N1 vaccine when others couldn't. That was the most public when it occurred, but there have been other problems as well, like requests for VIPs to be given extra care in emerge. It will take a while for all the details to be sorted out.
https://healthaccessinquiry.com/
Jim Kenney
Posted on: 01/21/2013 01:47
The inquiry is a narrowed down version of what was really needed: an inquiry that would also look at bullying within Alberta Health Services and how excessively lucrative contracts were given to many officials and board members. It is only allowed to examine queue jumping and preferential treatment. The information about queue jumping for colonoscopies was interesting. Unfortunately there was no reporting that waits are now down to a few months at most and days or weeks in cases where there is a need for urgency. But the media and others have little interest in sharing good news.
As one political columnist wrote, it is concerning that many very highly paid officials have terribly poor memories when it came to questions about preferential treatment. It makes one wonder how competent they really were and how they got their positions.
chemgal
Posted on: 01/22/2013 12:38
Jim, I had tuned out a bit when I first heard about the colon cancer screening jumping. It was bad for a while.
The inquiry has heard that Helios patients were referred, examined and treated in weeks or months while ordinary Albertans waited three years or more to be seen.
Dr. Bridges sounds like an ass. I wonder how involved he used to be with medical school admissions. I know that in the past there were some people who were accepted where based purely on typical admissions merit and my estimations, surprised me. There usually was a large donation made by someone in the family though.
chemgal
Posted on: 01/22/2013 12:55
Here's a summary of some of the issues that have been brought up so far:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/01/21/calgary-queue-jum...
I looked up the website for the Helios clinic. It just has a page about their approach, but otherwise isn't up and running. It doesn't even mention the location or city. You would think a clinic where you pay $10000 there would be a decent website!
carolla
Posted on: 01/22/2013 19:35
Thanks for the links chemgal - interesting. There are certainly private 'executive' health clinics & services in many provinces - they usually have their own diagnostic & sometimes surgical facilities & are for profit - thus taking people out of public lines & waiting lists that the rest of us may encounter - so not a completely bad thing, IMO. Some of them make it as businesses, others don't.
Certainly, some VIPs and big donors are given 'different' care if/when they are admitted to hospital - for a whole variety of reasons - some good and valid reasons, others not so much. The media will make mountains of some of them.
chemgal
Posted on: 01/22/2013 21:01
Carolla, I don't have a problem with private clinics. I do have a problem when those private clinics put someone as needing urgent care in the public system, when they need just standard screening.
As for hospitals, I think most of us are understanding of some of the privacy concerns for a VIP. It's the jumping ahead (or at least attempts to) that I have an issue with.
Not everything in the inquiry was in the summary of course either. I am a little frustrated hearing about things. I've had it where a test needed to be done within a certain time period, no appointments were free and there were no guarantees that if I walked in it would be done in the time period it needed to be done. Then you hear at a similar type of facility, a VIP walks in and expects to be at the front, for what I assume was a non-time sensitive test. I am glad to hear the front line health care workers aren't pushovers just because a patient has some political pull!
chemgal
Posted on: 06/12/2013 17:34
The entire AHS board was canned. Not completely related, but figured this was still a good place.
They decided to give executives bonuses when the province told them not to.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/06/12/calgary-alberta-...