The controversial comments of former Alberta Health Services CEO Stephen Duckett continued to reverberate through provincial politics this week.
The Alberta NDP called for a criminal investigation into the queue jumping allegations and two Progressive Conservative leadership candidates called for a provincial inquiry.
Duckett was speaking at a Toronto conference in May and video of his presentation was posted on the Internet earlier this week. Duckett told a roomful of health care administrators after the superboard was created, MLAs no longer had local contacts to go to with problems.
"This often meant that MLAs didn't know to whom to turn to obtain information — a legitimate goal — or to get fixes — a not so legitimate goal."
He said he heard under the old nine regional boards, MLAs would have a contact for political issues.
"I am told that some of my predecessor CEOs had designated go-to guys for discreet waiting list adjustments on request from MLAs, a practice I discontinued."
The NDP charged the comments, along with a memo Duckett wrote and another government document mentioning the practice, are a clear indication it took place and could still be continuing.
They wrote a letter to the RCMP with the suggestion and asked the force to investigate.
Sgt. Tim Taniguchi, a spokesperson for the RCMP said the force received the letter and would look into the allegations as they would with any complaint they receive.
The NDP charge that, if the situation took place it is a breach of a public trust, an offence under the criminal code.
Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said he believes the Health Quality Council review the government launched in response to other concerns about health care and especially doctor intimidation could adequately cover this issue.
"Doctors are the only person who can do that so there is room in that part of the envelope for people to bring forward any evidence they might have of any allegation about queue jumping."
He said MLAs are free to ask the RCMP to investigate if they want and he is sure the Mounties will respond adequately and on their own time.
Zwozdesky said Duckett never raised the allegations he is suggesting now, with him, and he is not sure why they are surfacing now.
"I think you can read between those lines yourself."
Leadership debate
Local MLA and leadership candidate Doug Horner, said when the regional boards were in place MLAs did have a contact with whom they could talk about constituent health care issues, which he said often come into his office.
"The MLAs are not the health system so we had a person within the health system that could find the right person to talk to our constituent."
He said it could be people with concerns about wait lists, but he never used those contacts and never heard of anyone using them to speed up a constituent's medical care.
"At no time did I ever run across anybody who said, 'Do you want us to move him up the queue,' because that is not my prerogative, that is a doctor's prerogative."
Horner said he doesn't believe an inquiry is necessary. He points to the issues that arose when the Calgary Flames received the H1N1 vaccine as an example where the system worked because the responsible person was fired.
Two of his rivals disagree with his assessment. Both Allison Redford and Doug Griffiths have called for the inquiry as a way to clear the air.
Redford said these kinds of allegations hinder the system and the government's attempts to improve it.
"When you start talking about queue jumping in a publicly funded health care system you are really striking at the core of what a publicly funded health care system is," she said. "If there is a lack of confidence in the public system, we are not going to be able to move forward and get this right."
