Westlock town councillors are unhappy with a vaguely worded letter from Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock MLA Maureen Kubinec about the future of laboratory services at the Westlock hospital.
Council passed a motion at the Dec. 10 meeting to arrange a meeting with Kubinec to discuss their concerns in person.
Mayor Ralph Leriger sent a letter Nov. 20 asking Kubinec to clarify whether Alberta Health Services had sent out a request for proposals for privatization of laboratory services and how that change would specifically benefit the Town of Westlock.
In response, Kubinec sent a letter that stated the changes were intended to accommodate the current growth in demand for laboratory testing services, and that the ultimate goal is to create a “sustainable, industry-leading laboratory services model.”
“It is my hope that this goal will be beneficial to the Town of Westlock and the surrounding communities,” she concluded.
The response, which didn’t answer the question, drew criticism from councillors.
“When I read this letter, to me it read like a canned letter,” Coun. Sheila Foley said. “It was too generic.”
Coun. David Truckey said he felt it was important for the town to keep “pushing and prodding,” lest the town’s concerns be ignored.
“This laboratory privatization, or move to centralize services in Edmonton and Calgary… we went through this round once already at the hospital and everybody got excited but nothing happened. I think it’s time to be excited again,” he said.
Leriger agreed, but suggested simply writing another letter in response would beget yet another letter and so on, bringing council no closer to the answer.
“Perhaps we should approach it in a different manner,” he said.
In a Dec. 13 interview, Kubinec said the move will provide a province-wide benefit in terms of being able to handle projected demand as well as having a state-of-the-art facility for all of Alberta.
As for the benefit specific to the Westlock area, she was less optimistic.
“My personal opinion is that I would have preferred it to stay, to be honest,” she said. “What I’m not happy about is the loss of the local service.”
The issue of laboratory service centralization came to light this spring, when AHS announced it would centralize services in order to save money and meet the rising demand.
The change meant the loss of the equivalent of 5.15 full-time positions from Westlock.
Kubinec questioned health minister Fred Horne on the issue in the Legislature on May 14, 2013, requesting a six-month moratorium on the change. Horne said it simply wouldn’t be possible.
Last week, AHS issued a request for proposals for a contract for a single private provider to handle all of northern Alberta’s medical lab tests for the next 15 years, a contract that’s expected to be worth about $3 billion.
