Area of Focuss: Acute care

Alberta Health Services Outgoing Referrals Review

In summer 2024, Alberta Health Services (AHS) identified approximately 14,000 outgoing referrals from AHS providers to non-AHS community-based specialists and allied health professionals that were misprocessed, delayed, or never sent. The Minister of Health asked Health Quality Alberta to conduct a Quality Assurance Review to understand why the delays occurred and how to mitigate this risk in the future.

The Alberta Health Services Outgoing Referrals Review was completed in 2025, and the findings were shared with key health system partners. This review examined system factors affecting the outgoing referral process, including a jurisdictional review, a review of policies, procedures and training materials, and understanding people’s experiences through interviews and a survey of 381 patients. It outlines issues that contributed to the referral delays and provides recommendations.

Total Parenteral Nutrition Review

Alberta Health Services requested Health Quality Alberta to conduct an independent review of the implications for quality and patient safety in AHS processes related to all aspects of Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) in the Edmonton Zone.

Quality of Anatomical Pathology Specimen Preparation and Interpretation 2010-11

A 2011 independent review of separate events in the practice of anatomical pathology that occurred in Calgary and Edmonton.

Quality of Care and Safety of Patients Requiring Access to Emergency Department Care and Cancer Surgery and the Role and Process of Physician Advocacy

A review looking into whether the quality of care and safety of patients requiring access to emergency department (ED) care and cancer surgery were compromised due to extended lengths of waits for required services.

Review of Three Medication and One Expressed Breast Milk Incidents at the Alberta Children’s Hospital

A review of three medication incidents and one expressed breast milk incident that occurred on the same nursing unit at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, Alberta over the course of two months.