'We can make other arrangements': Premier addresses DynaLife complaints on weekend call-in radio show

Premiere Danielle Smith says she will push Alberta Health Services to reduce wait times at laboratories across the province.

On her call-in radio show on Saturday, Smith said she has heard complaints from Albertans about the long wait times at the DynaLife-managed facilities.

"I'm hearing that all over, that DynaLife has not met performance expectations," she said.

"Now, I haven't had a chance to talk to our official administrator about that in particular, because during an election it's not really appropriate for any politicians to be interfering, or asking those kinds of questions until we know who's won, but I can tell you, I have a regular time that I talk to the official administrator to find out how things are going and DynaLife is one that I know that we and (AHS CEO) Mauro Chies are working on."

Smith went on to say DynaLife's contract with the government contains performance expectations.

"If they don't (meet the expectations), then we can make other arrangements to be able to bring in additional personnel to be able to make sure that we meet those expectations," she said.

"I hope we don't have to go to that level."

MLA David Shepherd, who was the NDP health critic when DynaLife signed its agreement to take over lab tests across the province, says the premier is far too late in addressing lab wait times.

"This was a system that was working well. The UCP went on an ideological drive to privatize that system, and to hand that contract over to DynaLife," he said.

"They spent three years building up to this to sign the contract, promised they would save money and improve service, and they have failed on every count.

"This is a disaster. It's a debacle. It falls at the feet of Danielle Smith, her administrator for Alberta Health Services, John Cowell, and the new health minister, Adriana LaGrange. They need to deliver a fast solution to this crisis for the people of Alberta."

DynaLife was contracted to take over laboratory testing from Alberta Precision Labs in June 2022 when Jason Kenney was premier.

At the time, health minister Jason Copping said the move would save the province $18 million to $36 million.

Almost immediately, wait times began to rise, especially in southern Alberta.

Friends of Medicare Calgary representative Alex Shevalier says long wait times are not just an inconvenience -- they are dangerous for patients.

"Fundamentally, the longer you wait for a test, the longer you have to wait for a diagnosis," Shevalier said.

"That can lead to worse and worse health outcomes. I think we had a system that worked well, prior to privatization."

Shevalier also notes that under the contract with DynaLife, the service expectations and metrics used to determine success are confidential.

"Show me the contract. In a publicly delivered system, we can hold people accountable and we can improve the system. With a private provider, we are not given those objective measures."

When asked for clarification about the metrics, and how the province might enforce them, the premier's press secretary, Sam Blackett, issued the following statement:

"Like the premier said, we are focused on improving our health care system and AHS has already made some changes to improve the services offered by DynaLife. She'll be meeting with Dr. John Cowell -- the official administrator from AHS -- and AHS CEO Dr. Mauro Chies to receive an update. If improvements aren't made, we'll explore all options to ensure Albertans receive the services they want and need."

CTV's attempts to contact DynaLife for this story were unsuccessful.

As well, both the Ministry of Health and Alberta Health Services referred CTV to the statement from the premier's office.