New intensive care unit coming to Fredericton hospital

Fredericton's Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital will be opening a new intensive care unit next month.

"The equipment is more technical and it’s bigger, and we need more space to be able to keep up with the best practices,” said Amy McCavour, the regional director for surgery and care.

The unit cost a reported $21.75 million and is expected to bring the number of beds up from eight to 12.

According to a news release from the province, each patient room will be private with its own bathroom and window.

Seven of those beds will be ready in a couple of weeks, but the rest can only open as staff fill positions for the unit.

"[Human resources] has always been a challenge lately and we know that,” said Minister of Health Bruce Fitch.

“That's why we've developed a group in the Department of Health and hired an executive director of recruitment, and they've got plans that are going to coordinate with the [Regional Health Authorities] and with the department,” Fitch said.

Fitch noted recruitment is already taking place to bring in more physicians and registered nurses to the province.

“We're not just limiting it to the additional seats that we put in place, because that will take the time for those individuals to go through the training and be on the floor,” he said.

The opposition says they're happy to see the project, which was announced by the former Liberal government in 2016, come to fruition.

"It's one thing to open these new beds but it's another to staff them,” said Rob McKee, the N.B. Liberal health critic.

“I don't think they've been doing the best job recruiting over the last year. I think it was something that was more of an afterthought when they came out with their reform plan on health care. But with pressure from us and other stakeholders over the last year, it seems like they've ramped it up a little bit,” he said.

The provincial government says opening the unit is just one phase of a $250 million dollar project modernizing maternal and newborn, surgical care, and day surgery environments, which should be completed by March 2024.

"Overall, our government is committed to spending $176 million in capital health-care infrastructure in the 2023-24 year, and of this total, $95 million will be for renovations and additions and other improvements around the province,” said Minister Fitch.

Despite the hiring challenges, the new Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital ICU wing will officially open on Feb. 14.