Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital ER gets facelift

Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital’s (RUH) emergency department is weeks away from being ready to help its first patient.

The new building, which sits right next to the new Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital, has a capital cost of $285.9 million.

Saskatchewan’s provincial government fronted $257.6 million with $28.3 million coming from the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“Everything has been designed and thought through as far as improving flow and getting people in and out,” said Lisa Collard, Saskatchewan Health Authority director of emergency services in Saskatoon.

Things health care professionals do every day including access to scans, testing and physically transporting patients through the halls of the building will become much simpler, health officials said.

The department has access to its own X-ray, ultrasound and CT scan machines – something Collard believes will help patients receive faster service.

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The new building also has a new pneumonic tube system, which will transport blood and DNA samples.

“It’s delivered within seconds to the clinical laboratory, which means that lab sample can be processed quicker and we’ll get our results quicker providing better patient care,” Collard added.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's delivered within seconds to the clinical laboratory, which means that lab sample can be processed quicker and we'll get our results quicker providing better patient care," Collard added.

The department will hold 42 rooms for patients – most being private.

About two dozen of those rooms can be made available for assessments to replace the hospital’s temporary mental health unit.

Patients will also have 24-hour access to a mental health professional.

The RUH Foundation also contributed $5 million towards some of the latest medical technology.

“It is about having a state of the art adult emergency department with the right equipment at the right place and the right time for our patients and their families as well as our physicians and all the medical team that every day save lives right here,” foundation CEO Arla Gustafson said.

Saskatchewan Health Authority is expecting the new space to give patients a better overall experience with more privacy.

Doors are set to open this fall.