Province and Capital Health Unveil Plans for New Emergency Department

HEALTH–Province and Capital Health Unveil Plans for New Emergency Department

Visitors to the QEII Health Sciences Centre can look forward to shorter wait times and health-care workers will have improved work conditions as a result of the $17-million construction of a new emergency department.

Premier Rodney MacDonald and Health Minister Chris d'Entremont unveiled plans for the new emergency department today Aug. 7, at the construction site adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth High School on Bell Road.

The new QEII emergency department will allow patients to be seen more quickly and provide a modern, state-of-the-art facility for health-care workers. The facility will also provide enhanced emergency psychiatric services. The QEII emergency department is the provincial trauma and adult tertiary care centre for Nova Scotia. It also provides services to other Atlantic provinces.

"A new, state-of-the art emergency department is a much-needed addition to one of the best health-care and teaching facilities in the country," said Premier MacDonald. "With advanced trauma and care services, it will help improve the patient and provider experience and attract students from across Canada who want to learn in a leading-edge environment. I want to commend everyone involved in the planning process and acknowledge them for their hard work and commitment throughout."

The QEII Health Sciences Centre's current emergency department was designed for 35,000 patients per year and is now seeing close to 60,000, which has resulted in longer waits and overcrowding for some patients.

The new emergency department will be an addition to the existing Halifax Infirmary. It will be located between the Queen Elizabeth High School and CBC property, with the main entrance off of Robie Street. The new design increases the size of the emergency department and allows the Halifax Infirmary to use 14,000 square feet currently occupied by the emergency department for other purposes. Construction is scheduled to be complete within the next two years.

"When it opens, this emergency department is going to be bigger and better," said Mr. d'Entremont. "Patients will see some relief in their wait time, improving access to appropriate care."

"The new emergency department facility is part of a larger transformation of our emergency services at the QEII that will result in improved patient care, a better teaching and training environment, and more opportunities to advance research," said Chris Power, president and CEO of Capital Health. "It is yet another example of how we are creating patient and family-centred spaces for health and healing."

The QEII Foundation provides much-needed funds to the health sciences centre, and has raised more than $120 million for patient care since 1996. As a funding partner in the emergency department construction, Constance Glube, foundation chair, stressed that the charitable organization still has work to do to meet its more than $4 million portion of the funding.

The cost for the construction project is being shared 75 per cent by the Department of Health and 25 per cent by the QEII Foundation.

"We've come most of the way towards meeting our funding commitment, with more than $3 million raised," said Ms. Glube, "We really appreciate the generosity of donors who have made this new emergency department a reality."