Auditor General Saher recently cited the Alberta government failure when it comes to addressing and treating addiction and mental health problems, and a pledge to improve mental health support and services has been issued by Alberta Health Services. The report by Saher was released last week, and it shows that the provincial government did not execute a strategy for mental health and addiction outlined in 2011. The report states that Alberta Health Services “failed to properly execute the five-year mental health and addictions strategy announced in 2011 by the former Progressive Conservative government and Alberta Health Services (AHS) officials.” Saher also stated that “Severe and persistent mental illness is a chronic disease and should be treated like one.” The statement went on to explain that improvements have been made since 2011, but “For the most part, however, the delivery of front line addiction and mental health services remains unintegrated and allows ongoing gaps in service continuity.”

The Alberta government failure when it comes to addiction and mental health needs to be addressed and resolved, so that treatment is available to everyone who needs it. AHS CEO Vikie Kaminski told the media “I want all Albertans to know the issues raised in the report are significant and important and we are treating them very seriously.” The audit report shows that Alberta Health Services lacks the proper model for mental health patient care plan management, and rural hospitals experienced limitations in support. The lack of records that could easily be shared was also identified as a problem. Those who need mental health treatment should be able to access these services.