Dartmouth General Hospital gets funding for upgrades

Watch above: The Dartmouth General Hospital is expanding by finally making use of space which has been sitting idle for decades. Ray Bradshaw reports.

DARTMOUTH – Dartmouth General Hospital is expanding, not with an addition, but by finally making use of space which has been sitting idle for decades.

The provincial government is injecting money for renovations and to make use of the vacant fifth floor. The project will cost $6 million.

The government also contributed $375,000 toward the design of the third and fourth floors which will undergo electrical and plumbing renovations to bathrooms, to better accommodate people with wheelchairs and walkers. Nurses work stations, where patients files are kept, as well as storage for medical supplies, will also be upgraded.

The Dartmouth General was built in the mid-1970’s. In the early 1990’s, a 5th floor was added, but the space has been empty since then, except for storage.

“The province is pleased to contribute $4.5 million to this work over the next two years and work will finally begin on the 5th floor,” said Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine.

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The fifth floor has a prototype already set up for a team station, where patients can be reviewed by the whole medical team.

“There will be computers here to look up patient values and care, to provide team meetings and part of our role and goal in creating a centre like this is to create a place where we can both work now and into the future, because in the future we will have electronic health records,” said Dr. Todd Howlett, the Chief of Staff at the Dartmouth General.

Glavine wouldn’t get into why it’s taken more than 20 years to develop the fifth floor.

“What is planned for, about 50 beds, on the fifth floor is now absolutely needed,” said Glavine. “And part of a provincial plan that will fit in very well with looking out over the next 10-20 years.”

Once the renovations are complete, there are big plans for the hospital to become a specialized centre.

“The hospital would become the orthopedic centre,” said Dr. Howlett. “The fifth floor would probably be for medical patients, but that would clear a floor below us, that is attached to the Operating Rooms, so there’s been a lot of thinking around it, so it has to do with flow and patient care and everything else. The third floor would likely become the orthopedic floor because of the flow from the ORs.”

Construction will start this week. It’s expected to be completed by late 2016 or early 2017.