Health Quality Council report vindicates, disappoints Sherman
Edmonton – Alberta Official Opposition Leader Raj Sherman calls today’s release of the long-awaited Health Quality Council of Alberta report on quality of care and patient safety both a vindication and a disappointment.
“This report vindicates what I’ve been saying all along,” says Sherman. “It acknowledges our ER crisis, the fact that patient safety is being endangered, and that doctors are being bullied. Our doctors work in a climate of fear.”
The report also notes that Alberta’s health care system lacks “stability and clarity” and that “massive reorganization at the system level and within Alberta Health Services has further blurred lines of authority and accountability.
“Where I am disappointed with this report is in its findings – or lack of – when it comes to cancer outcomes,” says Sherman. “This isn’t really all that surprising, though, when you consider the fact that the doctors who know the truth are either barred from talking about it due to the conditions of lawsuits settled with the government, or because they fear reprisals for speaking up and telling the truth.”
“Long story short, the HQCA proved what they could prove, and what they couldn’t prove can only be proven through an independent judicial public inquiry. That is the only way Albertans will ever get to know the full extent to which their health care system is being mismanaged and damaged by this PC government.”
Sherman plans to continue vigorously pressing the government for a truly independent judicial public inquiry under the Public Inquiries Act.
“I want Albertans to know I’ve got their backs. I am not going to stop pressing for the full truth about our health care system. This report is a good start, but we need a full judicial public inquiry, where doctors will be protected as they speak the truth.”
-30-
For further information, contact:
Amy McBain, Media Liaison
(780) 904-5430
Denis Lapointe, Director, Southern Alberta Liberal Caucus Office
(403) 860-4330