Health minister stops plan to close nearly 300 beds

Alberta's new health minister, Gene Zwozdesky, has announced thatplans to closenearly 300 acute care hospital beds in Edmonton and Calgary have been put on hold.

Zwozdesky told reporters he spoke withStephen Duckett, the CEO and president of Alberta Health Services, and AHS board chair Ken Hughes on Wednesday morning.

"Basically, I told them to put a halt to any plans to close acute care beds at this time," he said, adding the plan will now be under review.

In September, Duckett announced plans to close the beds over a three-year period. Calgary would have lost 150 beds, while Edmonton wouldhave seen 140 beds closed. Patients would then be transferred to community-based spaces. The government hoped the plan would save $51.4 million by 2012.

Zwozdesky said he plans to be "hands on" about the situation and will speak further to Hughes, Duckett and the board about what to do next.

"There's certainly an impact of sorts, that has been garnered by the media attention to general changes in health care or at least plans for changes," Zwozdesky said. "But we have to settle this down a little bit and let people know that we do care what their opinions are and we do have a plan and we do have a vision."

Second reversal of planned bed closuresin three days

This is the second time this week the province hasreversed a previously-announced health care cut.

On Monday, AHS announced it would no longer close 146 acute care psychiatric beds at Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.

But Zwozdesky brushed off suggestions that the original decisions were poorly made.

"I don't know if they were bad decisions. Let's just say some of the decisions that I've seen perhaps could have been done differently, could have been reviewed more thoroughly in a few cases," he said. "But that's not to say that the best efforts to do that weren't made. I think best efforts were made."

AHS is still sticking to itsplan to move about 100 geriatric psychiatric patients to the Villa Caritas facility in west Edmonton.