EDMONTON - Former top brass from Capital Health, including CEO Sheila Weatherill and board chairman Neil Wilkinson, will appear as witnesses next week along with Ken Hughes, former chairman of Alberta Health Services, at the public inquiry into preferential access to health services.
Hughes, now Alberta’s energy minister, is one of six Calgary witnesses, while 11 Edmonton witnesses will appear for questioning, including Health Minister Fred Horne and Wendy Kinsella, former board member for Capital Health.
Weatherill, former boss of Capital Health until 2008 when the health regions were disbanded, came to the attention of the inquiry last month. Witnesses have testified Weatherill made “VIP phone calls,” asking certain managers to “keep tabs” on a prominent person who came into hospital for care. Those managers were expected to report the patient’s progress back to Weatherill’s office.
Catholic hospitals in Edmonton run by Covenant Health also received the “heads up” phone calls from Weatherill’s office. Staff felt so uneasy about how to respond that they devised an ethics policy to guide doctors when such calls came in.
The inquiry was also told that patient care was not affected by those phone calls. Witnesses said it was unclear what expectations Weatherill had when she had her office make the phone calls.
The inquiry will also look at the November 2009 incident in Calgary when some members of the Calgary Flames hockey team and their families got flu shots at a special clinic after consultation with Alberta Health Services.
Weatherill will testify Monday. Tuesday will also focus on former Capital Health issues, according to the tentative schedule.
Hughes, first elected to the legislature last spring, will appear Friday at the inquiry when the Flames issue is on the agenda.
The inquiry will also address issues around preferential access to surgery and operating room times.
The $10-million inquiry was called by the Redford government in February. Stephen Duckett, former CEO of Alberta Health Services, alleged that patients with political connections were able to get faster treatment in the health-care system and that there were “go-to”persons in the system.
Duckett, from Australia, was hired to run AHS by then- health minister Ron Liepert after he disbanded the health regions, centralized all health services in one bureaucracy and appointed a super board to run the system at arms length. Hughes was its first chairman.
Other Edmonton witnesses include Shawn Hillhouse, manager of Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital, and three nurses, Lori Jobsen, former triage nurse at U of A hospital, Debbie Woodill and Nick Juric, both connected to the U of A hospital. Donna Towers former liaison office for Capital Health will appear Friday.
Calgary witnesses include Dr. Nicolas Mohtadi, orthopedic surgeon; Janice Stewart, executive director of surgery at Rockyview Hospital; Jill Woodward, executive director of emergency and surgery at the Alberta Children’s Hospital; Skyla Lungren, formerly in Calgary Health Authority, and former Liberal MLA Harry Chase.
The inquiry has also called, for a second time, witnesses Brigette McDonough, a former senior operating officer at the U of A Hospital and Deb Gordon, a former VP at the hospital. Last month, McDonough told the hearing she would get calls from Gordon, on behalf of Weatherill, requesting she keep tabs on the progress of certain VIP patients.
So far the judge has ruled it is unnecessary to identify the VIPs who were subject of those phone calls.
The Redford government announced the $10-million inquiry last February after months of allegations from the medical community and opposition MLAs about a culture of intimidation within the health system. The government opted to focus the inquiry on allegations of preferential treatment, leaving questions about doctor intimidation outside its scope.
Edmonton Journal