(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

frustrating despite positive step

Hospital construction timeline unknown, but business case complete

Dec 4, 2021 | 9:54 AM

The business case for Red Deer Regional Hospital (RDRH) expansion was recently completed, the Province confirms.

Health Minister Jason Copping spoke to hospital expansion in the Legislature recently, saying, “Let me be clear, Alberta’s government remains committed to the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre. The project is currently in phase two of four: planning and design.”

As part of the second phase, Copping added, Alberta Health Services has been engaging with members of the public and conducting a complete review of all components of the hospital.

In February 2020, the UCP government announced $100 million for hospital expansion. In November of last year, a government spokesperson told rdnewsNOW construction would begin in fall 2021.

A different government spokesperson, Carolyn Gregson speaking on behalf of Alberta Health, tells us this week it’s too early to provide detailed timelines. That echoes what Prasad Panda, the Province’s Infrastructure Minister, said this past April, which was reiterated by Premier Jason Kenney in an interview with rdnewsNOW in July.

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Kenney said he hopes to see shovels in the ground in the, “very near future.”

Gregson was clear this week, however, that construction would take several years to complete.

“The next step in the process will be to undertake detailed functional programming which will help to identify space allocations, program adjacencies, staffing needs, and other important details that will inform the design process,” says Gregson.

Wrapping up his remarks before fellow MLAs, Copping said, “AHS is examining the number and location of operating rooms for surgical and acute care, the need for inpatient beds in comparison with the current number and which programs or departments need them. Mr. Speaker, we’re going to make sure the Red Deer hospital expansion crosses the finish line.”

In February of this year, the provincial budget alloted $5 million for the project in 2021, with another $19 million set aside for 2022, and $35 million in 2023, for a total of $59 million.

Local doctors have long promoted the fact that Red Deer Regional Hospital has been underfunded for decades.

Dr. Keith Wolstenholme, orthopedic surgeon at RDRH, and director for the Society for Hospital Expansion in Central Alberta (SHECA), stresses that it is a good thing to hear the business case is complete.

However, the wheels having churned very slowly on this project, he says, continues to be a source of frustration.

“It took a lot of pushing, fighting and advocating to even get to this stage, and while this may help morale at the hospital,” he says. “What we really want to see is a concrete timeline and construction. It would also be really nice to see the business case made public.”

rdnewsNOW asked the Province if they plan to make the business case public.

“Alberta’s government doesn’t typically publicly release business plans for hospitals and other major infrastructure projects,” says Gregson. “Once a business plan is complete, it is thoroughly reviewed by the government and, if approved, is used for further project planning, including a public announcement to introduce the project or update Albertans.”

Wolstenholme continues, saying there’s an overcapacity announcement at RDRH almost daily.

“It’s very standard. I had to bring my daughter into the ER last month, and we sat there for hours and hours. I pulled up the wait time app that day, and Red Deer had far and away the longest waitlist of any hospital in the province,” he says. “When people are sitting in the ER, checking wait times and judging if they should drive in a snowstorm to Edmonton or Calgary because they’d still be seen quicker, that’s a sad statement. But it’s reality.”

AHS tells rdnewsNOW there were 13 days with some level of overcapacity between Nov. 1-30, plus three days in December so far. In total, overcapacity protocols were initiated on seven occasions in November, the last of which was level three and went from Nov. 30-Dec. 3. There were none, they say, in September or October.

Wolstenholme says health care workers at RDRH do amazing work, but are hindered by the constantly overloaded environment they work in.

“If we are day after day after day running overcapacity, so at 105 or 110 per cent, it affects care. People are overrun, stressed and burnt out, and that’s why you’re seeing healthcare workers leave. We should run at 85 or 90 per cent capacity with room for surges,” says Wolstenholme. “Overcapacity every day is not how heath care should run.”