During the latest Olds council policies and priorities meeting, an Alberta Health Services (AHS) official provided an update on services.
Mayor Mike Muzychka said that update was unrelated to an ongoing controversy in town over the granting of hospital privileges – the ability to personally take care of one's patients in the hospital.
However, one councillor did allude to that issue during the presentation.
Central zone medical director Dr. Dan Edgcumbe explained the process of giving hospital privileges to practitioners.
Some residents have long lobbied for years for Dr. Clarence Graff to have his hospital privileges reinstated.
In order for doctors to gain hospital privileges they need to apply for the appropriate credentials through the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CSPA).
From there the process changes hands to a zone review committee. In Olds this would be the central zone.
Physicians have to meet all of the CPSA requirements and obtain the necessary credentials in order to gain a licence or be able to return to practice in Alberta before AHS can get involved.
“We (AHS) actually have a process that we go through to look at the need not just in an individual community but across the whole zone,” said Dr. Edgcumbe. “Then we go through an appointment and privileges process.”
The process excludes hospital staff where privileges are sought in order to ensure that the process of appointment is fair.
“We recognize sometimes this can pose challenges but I think it’s important to say that we’re committed to providing high-quality safe patient care,” Dr. Edgcumbe said.
Along with Dr. Edgcumbe was the central zone medical affairs director Marlene Young who helped answer questions from councillors.
“We have two clinics in our community. We have one clinic that has doctors that have hospital privileges and we have another clinic that has doctors in it that don’t have hospital privileges," said Coun. Mary Anne Overwater.
“Can you explain how they get hospital privileges and if they used to have privileges is there a format they have to go through to re-get their hospital privileges? That seems to be a burning question in our municipality.”
“Every physician across the zone must apply for an appointment and a privilege,” Young said.
Council was told an appointment is the first thing a physician needs to practise in any AHS facility and appointments are specific to zones.
After gaining appointment, physicians gain specific privileges, meaning that a physician would need to gain different privileges at different AHS facilities and may not be able to gain privileges depending on the facilities' resources.
“Having an appointment and a privilege is a very specific procedure; every physician must apply for them,” said Young.
