Moving geriatric patients out of Alberta Hospital costs more, report says

An internal government document leaked to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees suggests it's less expensive to keep geriatric psychiatric patients at Alberta Hospital than move them to a new facility in west Edmonton.

Alberta Health Services plans to move about 100 patients to the 150-bed Villa Caritas, a facility being built next to the Misericordia Hospital. The facility was originally supposed to be a long-term care home for seniors.

According to the document, the changes to Villa Caritas will cost $3 to $5 million, at least twice the $1.4 million it would cost to upgrade the existing ward at Alberta Hospital.

"We just feel this is not a wise way of using taxpayers' money," said AUPE executive secretary-treasurer Bill Dechant.

But Alberta Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said the move to Villa Caritas is continuing as planned.

"I don't think it's a fair comparison when you're looking at the costs of building something new, from scratch, versus the cost of redeveloping or renovating something of old," he said.

In January, the province partially reversed the decision to close 246 acute care psychiatric beds at Alberta Hospital, following months of vocal opposition from mental health advocates, families of psychiatric patients and AUPE. 

While Alberta Health Services said it would keep 146 beds open for now, the 100 geriatric patients were still to move to Villa Caritas.

The future of Alberta Hospital is to be determined as AHS develops a province-wide mental health strategy. It is not clear how long that will take.