Overview
- Hospital Services Minister Matt Jones and senior leaders provided a public update as Acute Care Alberta coordinates the provincewide response to high seasonal demand.
- The province confirmed a judge-led fatality inquiry into Prashant Sreekumar’s Dec. 22 death at Edmonton’s Grey Nuns hospital, following a quality review and an ongoing medical examiner investigation.
- Acute Care Alberta says it has dedicated 336 beds for respiratory patients, opened surge spaces, accelerated safe discharges and limited non‑essential transfers to protect emergency capacity.
- Early indicators show hospital strain easing, with 675 patients hospitalized for respiratory viruses as of Jan. 14, down from a Dec. 30 peak of 995, and emergency inpatients down to 335 from 443 a week earlier.
- Frontline physicians continue to warn that hospitals are overcrowded and are pressing for stronger system coordination, as the government pursues longer‑term capacity expansions including 1,000 acute beds, 1,500 continuing care spaces and funding for nine urgent care centres.