South Health Campus Emergency Department opens today, along with other clinics and programs

CALGARY - The South Health Campus emergency department (ED) opens its doors at 7 a.m. today, increasing capacity to treat emergency patients in Calgary and surrounding communities.

“This is a landmark day for Calgary and all of southern Alberta,” said Fred Horne, Minister of Health.

“The South Health Campus emergency department will play a crucial role in providing high-quality emergency care for tens of thousands of Albertans every year, now and for generations to come. The immediate addition of emergency department beds and resources should improve access and reduce wait times in emergency departments across the city.

“The province’s biggest hospital has taken another big step toward being fully operational later this year, as scheduled.”

The South Health Campus ED is expected to treat 60,000 patients in its first year.

Several other clinics and services within the hospital are also opening today: Mental Health Emergency Services, Pulmonary Diagnostics, Cardiac Diagnostics, the Bone and Joint Cast Clinic, as well as the Rapid Access Unit, a 20-bed unit for patients who require assessment for up to 48 hours.

“This is an important milestone for South Health Campus and for the Calgary Zone,” said South Health Campus Medical Director Dr. Cheri Nijssen-Jordan. “Today’s opening of the emergency department brings immediate capacity on stream and gives Calgarians and southern Albertans another option when deciding where to access emergency department care.”

The South Health Campus ED has 30 treatment spaces and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Also today, Mental Health Emergency Services open with 17 new inpatient beds. The unit is expected to expand to 33 beds in the spring, as the hospital’s phased opening continues.

From Jan. 14 until late February, South Health Campus will have 20 short-stay inpatient beds in its Rapid Access Unit (RAU). The RAU operates as a medical assessment unit, in which patients can be moved from the ED for further observation, assessment and diagnosis by physicians and nurses. Patients usually stay on the RAU for less than 48 hours. Patients requiring a higher level of medical care and treatment will be transported to other acute care facilities in Calgary.

More inpatient care units will open in six-week waves, with the next wave set to begin at the end of February. South Health Campus will have 269 inpatient beds when fully operational by the end of the year.

Since September, the facility has opened 39 new clinics and services.

“Though we’ve been opening services and programs steadily since the fall, we have treated a lot of patients and have helped to enhance the health care system in several key areas,” says Lori Anderson, Vice President of the South Health Campus.

To date:

• More than 8,200 diagnostic imaging (DI) exams have been performed; about 6,100 were for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
• Neurosciences clinic has seen about 3,000 patients.
• Academic Family Medicine has more than 2,300 patients (capacity is 4,000).

Other South Health Campus clinics and services will open throughout 2013, including:

• Additional care units (six-week waves beginning late February 2013).
• Operating rooms (late spring/early summer 2013).
• Intensive care units (late spring/early summer 2013).
• Obstetrics (late summer/early fall 2013).
• Women’s health programs (late summer/early fall 2013).

South Health Campus Emergency Department

SHC ED/Inpatient care

• The SHC will care for every patient who comes through the door. In the short term, after a patient receives treatment, he or she will be transferred to another Calgary hospital if admission for further medical care is required.
• The South Health Campus wait times will be tracked online starting in mid-February after the system has had a chance to be tested internally http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/4770.asp.

SHC Rapid Access Unit (RAU)

• The SHC RAU uses new approaches to delivering health care. Patients referred to the unit are treated and have a planned release within 48 hours. After this time, patients are either admitted to hospital for more care, or ideally transitioned home.

SHC Bone and Joint Cast Clinic

• Bone and Joint Cast Clinic expects to see up to 100 patients a day.

SHC Update

• The campus will serve Calgary and the surrounding areas, and is also a referral centre for southern Alberta.
• Approximately 1,500 staff have been hired at SHC to date. Hiring for remaining positions, including physicians, continues, and is on schedule.
• The SHC schedule remains on budget and on time. The budget for the facility is approximately $1.3B.
• When the new hospital is fully operational in late 2013, SHC will see about 200,000 outpatient visits annually.

- 30 -

• News release
• Backgrounder

• Emergency Department now open