AHS promises hundreds more Calgary-area lab appointments every week after waits outcry

After coming under fire for long waits for lab work at privatized clinics in Calgary and surrounding communities, Alberta Health Services is sharing more details on a plan to address the problems.

Waits for routine lab work ballooned to five weeks or more after AHS contracted the private company, Dynalife Medical Labs, to take over community lab service from Alberta Precision Laboratories last year.

That prompted concerns about patient safety and, earlier this month, Health Minister Jason Copping said he was aware of the problems and was in conversations with AHS.

At the time, Dynalife said it was working to expand clinic hours and hire additional staff.

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In a news release Wednesday, the health authority outlined a number of specific steps being taken to address the problems in the Calgary zone.

"AHS and [Alberta Precision Laboratories] are working closely with Dynalife to improve wait times for community lab services,"  AHS president and CEO, Mauro Chies, said in the release.

"Together, we are doing all we can to provide Albertans with shorter wait times and safe, accessible lab services."

According to AHS, Dynalife is recruiting additional staff from both inside and outside Alberta.

Clinics are being expanded in Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, and Okotoks. Weekend hours are being offered, and new temporary sites will be set up.

AHS said 1,450 new appointments will be added this week, including 200 time slots every weekday morning at the Sloane Square and North Hill locations and 450 weekend appointments at the Airdrie and Riverbend clinics.

The health authority is promising hundreds more patients will be accommodated at various clinics in the weeks to come.

And two new clinics will be opened — one in northeast and the other in northwest Calgary — each offering 180 appointments per day.

"We are bringing in as many staff as we can and we have already added additional lab collection spaces at several clinics in Calgary, expanded hours on evenings and weekends and by the end of the month, we will have added hundreds of new appointment spaces per week," said Jason Pincock, Dynalife president and CEO.

Additional steps, outlined by AHS, include:

• The addition of two phlebotomy stations at both the Beddington and Riverbend labs. 
• Expansion of appointment availability at the North Hill location to add 25 per cent additional appointments daily. 
• Market Mall location expansion will begin accommodating an additional 200 patients per day, next week.
• Hours will be permanently expanded at the Airdrie, Avenida, Cochrane, Glenbrook, McKnight, and Riverbend locations in June, adding an additional 150 appointments per day at each location. 
• Airdrie clinic renovations to be complete by the end of July, increasing space by 30 per cent.