Health Care Quality Council?

Health Care Quality is a pressing issue.  In Alberta, a government mandated and appointed committee has been studying this since 2003.  Results so far are meagre.  The committee, since 2006 known as the Health Quality Council of Alberta has, according to their website ( http://www.hqca.ca ) lots of the Mission, Vision and Values statements familiar to those of us who spent our careers in bureaucratic organizations.  A recent press release (June 29, 2011) sounded promising but a careful reading of it reduced its "News" to 4 points:
     1. We've had some meetings.
     2. We've talked to some people in the medical establishment.
     3. We'll give you a similar report this fall.
     4. We may have an actual report in 2012 (after the next election?).

This despite the fact that one of the important issues dates back to 2001, viz.
   "Efforts continue to validate the presence of a waitlist for lung surgery in 2001, including patients that died while on that waitlist many of whom had cancer."

There is a definite need for measuring quality of outcomes and ensuring more accountability but the Council's language is not encouraging there either, viz

“Health care is delivered by a complex and interconnected set of service areas.  Our experience and knowledge show us that lasting gains in quality health care and patient safety are possible when the focus is on system improvements rather than individual components or care providers.”
Health Quality Council of Alberta, 2009 – 2010 Annual Report,  p. 19 http://www.hqca.ca/assets/pdf/Annual_Reports/HQCA_AR_2010.pdf

Can we actually improve a "system" without addressing its components and the individuals who make up that "system"?  The "system" is an abstract concept, merely allowing us to talk about the entirety of the complex arrangement of component individuals involved.  Efforts to improve the "system" are as vague and ideologically weighted as efforts to reform "society" without blaming any individual or organization within it. 

Check out the website and other work of the Health Quality Council and see whether you think they are on the right track to bring real life improvements to the quality of health care and patient safety in Alberta.