Working towards a collaborative health model

Alberta Health Services (AHS) is equally focused on four areas of health care – patient outcomes, the patient experience, the health provider experience and financial sustainability. A key piece of our long range planning – our 15-year plan being developed in partnership with Alberta Health – is collaborating with people throughout the Central Zone on how we might improve and evolve each of those healthcare areas.

I’m proud to share that our recent discussions with community members verified that we are already making great progress. Here are some examples of what Central Zone community members believe is working well:

• strong Primary Care Networks (PCNs), customized to the needs of the Community
• immediate access to specialists in Edmonton and Calgary for rural staff, for advice and clinical decision-making, including whether a newborn should be transported to a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)

While we’re pleased with those achievements, we’ve also been hearing suggestions for improvement from community members, health partners and various health providers that include:

• improved and consistent access to patient information for both patients and providers
• a shared responsibility for health and prevention of illness, and ensuring further investments in community primary care and prevention
• building smart homes to connect with health facilities, making better use of technology