Government to review addiction, mental health system

Following the auditor general’s report, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman has appointed MLAs David Swann and Danielle Larivee to undertake a full-scale review of Alberta’s addiction and mental health system. Auditor General Merwan Saher said that the department had failed to properly execute its 2011 addiction and mental health strategy. He said the strategy did not have to be redesigned, but instead carried out. For the most part, the report said, the delivery of frontline addiction and mental health services remained unintegrated and allowed ongoing gaps in service continuity. “In our opinion, based on the evidence we have from this and other recent audits of healthcare service delivery, AHS has both the mandate and capacity to coordinate the efforts of those entities that should be involved in integrating public mental health and addictions services,” said the report. Mental illness affects one in five Albertans during their lifetime.