Surgical capacity set to grow at Chinook Regional Hospital

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on April 19, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Minister of Infrastructure, Nathan Neudorf announced the expansion of surgical capacity at the Chinook Regional Hospital Tuesday afternoon as part of the Alberta Surgical Initiative Capital Program (ASI).
“Construction is starting on the renovation that will modernize and increase the existing surgical procedure capacity right here at the Chinook Regional Hospital. Currently there are nine operating rooms at the hospital, where approximately 140 surgical procedures are completed each week. Once construction is complete two of the operating rooms will have an increase in size,” said Neudorf.  
He said this leads to the use of the surgical rooms to be more efficient for the types of surgeries that are performed.
“There will also be five new surgical in-patient rooms. This will enable surgical capacity to increase, as well as providing added recovery and support space for patients,” said Neudorf.
He said the renovation is part of the ASI which provides funding to increase surgical capacity all across the province.
Neudorf says that in addition to providing a boost to healthcare in the Lethbridge area, the redevelopment is also expected to support more than 80 construction related jobs.
 Construction of the renovation is expected to be completed in the fall of 2024.
Alberta Health Services Chief Zone Officer,  Linda Iwasiw said she is excited about the planned upgrades.
 “We are grateful for the funding that’s being directed to help us to reduce our wait times for Albertans,” said Iwasiw.
She said the Alberta surgery initiative includes their plan to improve patients’ surgical journey from the time the patient sees their family doctor, to when they are referred to the surgeon, to when they actually have surgery and then their journey to recovery.
“We currently have nine operating rooms and once construction is completed, two of our rooms will be larger rooms which allow us actually to use the space in a much more efficient way. We will be able to complete about 780 more procedures within the same space, because our space is more efficient. This will certainly contribute to patient access and helping us with our surgical times both in Lethbridge and the surrounding area,” said Iwasiw.
She said that in order to address the workforce shortages to be able to make sure they have enough staff to utilize the newly expanded surgical capacity, Alberta Health Services along with government have released a workforce strategy in terms of increasing staffing over the next number of years.
 “It is absolutely critical that we grow the workforce. The workforce strategy talks about numerous ways, things that we’re currently doing, new training seats, as well as retention of current workforce…We are confident with the Alberta government workforce strategy, as well as Alberta Health Services workforce strategy, that we will build and grow the required workforce for the future,” said Iwasiw.

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