WATCH ABOVE: The province is spending $3 billion to improve hospitals in Edmonton and northern Alberta. Tom Vernon explains.
EDMONTON — Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital is getting a much-needed redevelopment and two other city hospitals will see emergency room expansions, however the aging Misericordia Hospital in the west end will not be replaced as many have called for; instead it will see renos and a possible expansion.
“We’ve asked for a report on the current Misericordia, to see the status of it, its physical capacity, what we need to do for repairs to be put in and whether expansion can be put into place,” said Health Minister Stephen Mandel.
“There’s only so many dollars available. We made a decision, given the Royal Alex and the state it’s in, and the repairs it needs, and the opportunities it will create for additional sub-acute care beds and mental health beds, that we believe this is the place we need to put the first dollars,” Mandel added.
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Upgrades and expansions to several northern Alberta medical centres were revealed on Monday at an election-style announcement on a five-year, $3.4 billion dollar capital plan for Alberta health care facilities.
Mandel, along with Premier Jim Prentice and AHS CEO Vickie Kaminski, delivered the news on Monday morning at the Royal Alex.
Major projects in Edmonton include:
- Redevelopment of the Royal Alexandra Hospital
- Planning for a renovations and options for capacity expansion at the Misericordia Hospital
- Renovation and expansion of Emergency Departments at the Grey Nuns and Misericordia Hospitals
- Business case development for a Brain Centre within the University of Alberta Hospital
- Completion of the Northern Alberta Urology Clinic at Kaye Edmonton Clinic South
- Expansion of critical care and the surgical suite at the Stollery Children’s Hospital
Projects specific to northern Alberta include:
- Creating a template design for a hospital in Whitecourt that can be adapted to use elsewhere
- New urgent care centres in Beaverlodge, Sylvan Lake and Airdrie, with a design that can be adapted to use elsewhere
- Continuing care centre in Fort McMurray
- Funding for ongoing projects to redevelop or replace hospitals in Edson, Grande Prairie, High Prairie, and Fort McMurray
The province also announced increased funding for maintenance and medical equipment upgrades.
Maintenance funding is set to increase next year by nearly 60 per cent, from the current $70 million a year to $111 million in 2015-16. The province said that will rise to $146 million by 2018-19.
The funding will allow Alberta Health Services to do extra maintenance. The province said projects will be managed by the new AHS operational districts that were announced earlier this month.
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Already 300 projects worth $146 million have been identified over the next two years. The capital plan also includes $25 million a year to replace and upgrade medical equipment.
The announcements come on the heels of last week’s budget, in which the province announced plans to slash health spending for the first time in two decades.
A similar announcement for southern Alberta will take place Monday afternoon at Calgary’s South Health Campus hospital.
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