Alberta Health Services (AHS) welcomes the release of the AHS Review.

The review provides recommendations which identify a variety of opportunities that AHS has broken into five improvement themes to align with our current structure and expertise: People, Clinical Services, Clinical Support Services, Non-Clinical Services, and Governance.

The review process included broad engagement with Albertans, as well as health system stakeholders and AHS staff and physicians. More than 30,000 physicians and AHS staff participated in an online survey for the review, and 90 per cent of respondents agreed that protecting and strengthening the sustainability of Alberta’s health system should be a key AHS priority.

All recommendations in the report are being fully considered, with the exception of two. AHS will not propose the closure of hospitals or the merger of trauma centres in Edmonton. As well, AHS, together with the Government of Alberta, will ensure low-income patients are protected.

Many of the recommendations build on work already underway, and some will be acted on immediately, while others will take time and require additional exploration and initial investment. Throughout this process, our focus will be on continuing to provide effective, timely patient care.

This review provides AHS with a series of opportunities to further the sustainability of the healthcare system, something that is necessary given Alberta’s growing and aging population, and the increasing demands on healthcare services.

The focus is to make AHS as efficient as possible, while continuing to improve patient access and quality of care.