The Sundre Hospital and Care Centre is an essential service, providing excellent, timely healthcare to residents of Sundre and surrounding areas.
We are extremely proud of the services and supports that the hospital’s physicians and staff provide to patients and clients every day.
AHS has absolutely no plans on closing the hospital - any suggestion otherwise is incorrect.
While rural hospitals is one focus of the recently released AHS Review, AHS and the Minister of Health have made it extremely clear that the closure of hospitals is off the table.
In addition, no changes have been made to the hospital’s services or hours following the Review – the hospital continues to offer a low-risk obstetrics services, and the hospital’s emergency department continues to operate 24/7.
The AHS review includes 57 recommendations and additional opportunities for AHS to consider. The goal of the recommendations is to ensure that AHS continues to be fiscally responsible and sustainable now and into the future.
AHS is in the process of developing a three-year implementation plan stemming from the AHS Review, which we will provide to the Health Minister by mid-May.
In many examples, work is already well underway when it comes to exploring how to implement recommendations and we’re ready to act quickly.
In other areas, we know there is much planning to unfold over the longer term, which will be reflected in the implementation plan.
As we work to draft that plan, we will work closely with communities regarding the Review’s recommendations, including assessing the bed configuration of some of our smaller hospitals.
This is work that is done routinely and has occurred in many settings over many years. Our Enhancing Care in the Community strategy is one example of the work we are doing to meet the health needs of Albertans in their homes and communities outside of acute, hospital-based care.
We will ensure that patient care at the forefront of any plans, and we will involve input from local frontline healthcare teams, including staff at the hospital, and our partners at the Moose and Squirrel Medical Clinic.
Our goal is to ensure Sundre continues to have appropriate programs and services – as well as the space to deliver such services – to meet the needs of the community, now and in the future.
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