N.S. announces more beds, operating rooms as part of health-care expansion projects

Nova Scotia’s premier says work will go ahead “without delay” on major health-care infrastructure projects announced for the Halifax Regional Municipality Thursday.

As part of the plan, Houston said his government is close to inking a deal on the Halifax Infirmary project.

The agreement would see Plenary PCL Health -- a construction firm -- build a new patient tower with four additional operating rooms and a new emergency department. A new cancer care centre will also be built at the infirmary site.

“Our health-care professionals deserve modern facilities that enable them to provide the best care for their patients. It’s important for their work and their mental health and well-being,” said Premier Tim Houston in a news release.

“If we are serious about recruiting more people to join them, we need to give them a workplace they want to be in.

“This will be expensive. But this is about getting it right and saving time.”

The infirmary redevelopment project was pegged at $2 billion when the former Liberal government first announced it in 2016.

But in June, the province said the cost would likely be significantly higher because of inflation. The province has not released a revised estimate for the project.

Government also shared details of new builds and expansions to existing facilities in the HRM. This includes:

• expanding the Dartmouth General Hospital to include a new emergency department and more beds
• adding new in-patient services at the Cobequid Community Health Centre in Lower Sackville
• building two standalone transition-to-community centres in HRM, including one near the Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre

Houston says leases are signed for the land at the new off-site builds and “considerable work” has been done on the design of the new patient tower.

The premier said Thursday it’s too soon to tell how much all of the work will cost, but he did say it would be in the billions.

Meanwhile, opposition parties are asking for transparency.

“We are happy to see it today, but we have major concerns about the lack of details of course,” said Claudia Chender, leader of the N.S. NDP.

Brendan McGuire, the Liberal’s health critic, said, historically, when projects of this magnitude are announced and financial details aren't given, "they tend to balloon out of cost.”

In response, Houston said his government will find the funds necessary to finish the projects.

“It’s a generational investment, that’s what’s been talked about for seven years,” Houston told CTV Atlantic. “It is a generational investment, but this is about getting the facilities that we need in this province to meet the needs of Nova Scotians. Whatever it costs, it’ll cost.”

Dr. Michael Clory, the site lead at the Cobequid Community Health Centre, says in his 17 years at the facility, patient visits have more than doubled to 52,000 a year.

Clory is glad the project at his facility is now moving forward.

“There wasn’t a long-term plan to address the population demands and growth outside of [the] peninsula or Halifax, and we know that Bedford, Sackville, Fall River is the fastest growing community in the province,” said Clory.

Government also says it will work with the medical community and community groups to start planning the construction of:

• a new mental health and addictions campus
• a new Nova Scotia Rehabilitation and Arthritis Centre
• a new Heart Health Centre of Excellence

The province says it will plan to move patients out of “distressed” areas of the Victoria General hospital before the new patient tower is finished. Lab services will also move from the MacKenzie Building.

Work on the announced projects will happen at the same time, according to the province.

With files from the Canadian Press