Surgical services in Alberta can be provided at public hospitals or non-hospital surgical facilities. Most surgical procedures, including all major surgeries, are performed at hospitals, where specialized resources and equipment are available for complex procedures and managing serious complications. However, some other operations may be contracted to non-hospital surgical facilities.
Since the initial audit in 2001, we have completed several follow-up audits. Most recently, in 2014, we have repeated our recommendation that Alberta Health Services strengthen its process to monitor the performance of non-hospital surgical facilities.
What we concluded
We conclude that Alberta Health Services has implemented our recommendation by establishing an oversight process to monitor the performance of contracted non-hospital surgical facilities and improving its processes to record and analyze performance information for those surgical facilities.