May 2009 Message

It's been one year since Health and Wellness Minister Ron Liepert announced the plan to integrate the 12 former health entities into one provincial organization: Alberta Health Services.

Since that time, an enormous amount of work has gone into the creation of a single, provincewide health care delivery system.

On April 1st, we officially became one team - 90,000-strong across the province, shoulders to the wheel in pursuit of our shared mission: a patient-focused health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.

The transformation we've begun challenges each of us to think differently. It challenges us to build on the innovation already occurring across the province, and to ensure good ideas and best practices from one area are implemented in all others.

We know that many of these changes won't happen overnight. It's going to take time to successfully integrate the former entities and two to three years to see the full benefits.

We're not starting from scratch. We know what we need to achieve and I know that we can achieve the goals we set.

We will be setting ambitious performance measures in our new strategic plan.

We look forward to meeting those goals under the leadership of Alberta Health Services President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Stephen Duckett, and his new senior leadership team.

Dr. Duckett's proven experience in leading constructive change will guide us in our quest to build a health care system that will become the gold standard for public health care around the world.

While we have accomplished much in the past few months, it is clear we have much more work to do.

During this exciting time of change we ask for the support of all Albertans to ensure the health needs of those we serve are met. We ask you to journey with us as we work to create a patient-focused health care system that is accessible and sustainable for everyone.