CALGARY – Premier Jim Prentice, Health Minister Stephen Mandel and Infrastructure Minister Manmeet Bhullar released details on health capital and maintenance funding for Calgary and southern Alberta Monday afternoon, including information related to cancer care.
The projects included a new cancer centre at South Health Campus as “Phase 1 of a two-site model for cancer care in Calgary,” said the government in a release.
Mandel said the government aims to complete the South Health cancer centre by 2020, calling it a “substantial” facility at around one third of one million square feet in size. He said it would include a radiation vault, ambulatory and in-patient services for Southern Alberta patients.
When asked about the specific cost, Mandel said costs wouldn’t be discussed “at this point” but said “we have enough money to build it.” He said the goal is to start construction within 12 to 15 months.
The release stated there will also be a future expansion of cancer services at Foothills Medical Centre “planned within the Foothills site master plan.” Mandel said patients would continue to go to Foothills for specialized services like bone marrow transplants.
AHS President and CEO Vickie Kaminski called Foothills a “very congested site” saying there’s a “need to be able to plan sequentially.”
“It’s very landlocked and requiring a lot of change,” she said. “We are working through that process and we will have definitive plans for you in the coming months.”
Kaminski said it’s a “different configuration” of cancer care than initially expressed, but said “I’m not sure that scaling down is the right word” when asked by a reporter about the initial one-stop cancer centre.
“Rather than building on a single site—which is extraordinarily expensive and difficult to build on—the facilities will be built on two sites over time,” said Prentice.
Ruth Dufour, who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2004, relapsed in 2012 and currently travels between South Health Campus and Tom Baker Cancer Centre at the Foothills site. She says she’s waited in excess of an hour to see a doctor many times throughout her care.
John Osler from the Concerned Citizens for the Calgary Cancer Centre (C5) called the new plan a “blue print for tragedy.”
“This is nowhere close to what was promised and what Calgarians need and deserve.”
The province also announced Monday morning the Royal Alex will get a redevelopment and the Misericordia Hospital will see renovations and a possible expansion, rather than a much-called for replacement.
READ MORE: Province announces $3.4B in renos and upgrades, but no new hospitals for Edmonton region
In the 2015 Budget released Thursday, the capital plan included $926 million in funding between now and 2020 to be split between a Calgary cancer centre and two Edmonton facilities in need of repair: the Royal Alexandra and Misericordia hospitals.
READ MORE: Calgary cancer centre to fight with Edmonton hospitals over $900M
Initial estimates from the PC government pegged the cost of an all-under-one-roof cancer centre at $1.3 billion. Premier Prentice upped that amount to $1.6 million during a January radio show interview.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation sounded the alarm over the declining state of the 1960s-built main facility in its 2013-14 Report to the Community. It said “aging infrastructure” makes it difficult to maintain operations at an emergency department that handles more surgeries than any other Alberta hospital. The PC government has also long been under fire to replace the 45-year-old Misericordia , which has been plagued with problems including floods. Estimates have pegged total cost of repairs at $1 billion for each Edmonton facility.
FULL COVERAGE: Alberta Budget 2015
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Other Calgary-specific projects announced Monday include:
- “Peter Lougheed Centre women’s services and vascular renovations;
- McCaig Tower capacity expansion and renovations;
- Renovations and expansion of Emergency Departments at Peter Lougheed Centre and South Health Campus (pediatrics).”
Projects specific to southern Alberta released Monday include:
- A new urgent care centre in Airdrie (along with Beaverlodge and Sylvan Lake), based on a new template design that will be repeatable, scale-able, and cost-effective;
- Red Deer obstetrical unit renovations;
- Funding for ongoing projects to redevelop or replace Raymond and Taber Health Centres, Lethbridge Chinook Regional Hospital, and Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.
With files from Heather Yourex
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