Surgical capacity is expanding at St. Paul’s Hospital with the help of a donation from St. Paul’s Foundation, along with the provincial government.
The Saskatchewan government is providing 4.7-million dollars for a new 18-bed surgical recovery unit at St. Paul’s Hospital. St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation is contributing just under 2-million dollars.
“Having more surgical recovery beds means we’ll be able to move more patients through the surgical process,” said Health Minister Don McMorris.
The new unit will include 18 single-patient rooms with wheelchair accessible washrooms, patient lifts in each room and two negative pressure rooms.
The project supports the goals of the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative, which ensures that by 2014 all patients will have the opportunity to have their surgery within three months. Since its launch in 2010, the number of patients waiting more than 18 months has dropped 57 per cent.
As of July 31st, over 11-thousand patients are on the waitlist for surgery in Saskatoon.
Construction is expected to begin this Saturday and the new unit is expected to open in the summer of 2012.
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