Dr. Taft: Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday afternoon the Alberta Health Quality Council and Alberta Health Services released a one-and-a-half-page summary of a 60-page investigation into four patient safety incidents at the Children’s hospital in Calgary. 

The Health Quality Council wanted the full report released; Alberta Health Services is blocking that release. To the Minister of Health and Wellness: will the minister exercise his authority and order Alberta Health Services to release the full, unedited report?

Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, I’ve spoken with the Health Quality Council. I’ve also spoken with Alberta Health Services not long ago. I’ve asked them to work together immediately to provide as much information as they possibly can and to release a full, detailed report regarding this matter as soon as possible.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Dr. Taft: Thanks. Again to the same minister, Mr. Speaker. Accountability cannot happen without full disclosure, and the Health Quality Council drafted the report so that it could be released without violating privacy. Mr. Minister, why the secrecy?

Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, there’s no secrecy. The fact is that you have to respect the parameters of the Alberta Evidence Act, you have to take into account the Health Information Act and what its parameters are, and then you have to contact family members. You have to work with physicians. You have to be very careful in these matters, and I’m sure the hon. member knows that. Those issues are being looked at as we speak, and I’ve asked for the full, detailed report to be released within 10 days.

Dr. Taft: Mr. Speaker, this report was concluded in October. The Health Quality Council took full account of the issues that the minister has provided. The minister has made himself complicit in this cover-up. Why won’t he stand behind the Alberta Health Quality Council and have this report released? Who’s he trying to protect?

Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, perhaps the member didn’t hear what I just said. I said that I’ve spoken with both of these parties. I’ve asked them to go through this issue very thoroughly. They are doing that as we speak, and in less than 10 days they will have the full report issued to the public as requested by me the minister.

Patient Safety Report, Continued

Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question will be to the Minister of Health and Wellness. I want to confirm with him what he said earlier today in question period, that the full, unedited report prepared by the Alberta Health Quality Council into patient safety incidents at the Children’s hospital in Calgary will be made public within 10 days.

Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, what I believe I said is that a full, detailed report within the parameters of the Alberta Evidence Act and respecting the parameters of the Health Information Act is to be made available within 10 days. I’ll leave it up to them to get together and figure that out. I’m sure they will.

Dr. Taft: Well, Mr. Speaker, our information is that the report was already written to meet those parameters, so if the report is going to be released unedited, why not just release it today?

Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, as I’ve indicated, I’ve spoken with the two groups, and I’ve asked the same issue of them. I said: why not just release it? They said that they have some confidentiality issues that they still have to address, and as soon as they get the green light on those confidentiality agreements, which I know the hon. member himself would respect and know about, the report will be released, as I’ve just indicated.

Dr. Taft: Mr. Speaker, the Alberta Health Quality Council has said that the confidentiality issues are already addressed. It’s as if Alberta Health Services thinks the Health Quality Council reports to them. Will this minister do the right thing and from here on give the Alberta Health Quality Council full independence in releasing its reports?

Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, the first two incidents that were reported on were done within a matter of hours. Immediate action was taken. The third one was done within a very short time period as well, and so was the fourth one. But as they all came in, it was decided by the Health Quality Council, through their own protocols, to lump all four together in one report. That’s what they’ve done. They are just as concerned about patient quality and safety as we are, and we’ll ensure that it gets released.

Alberta Hansard, March 10, 2010

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