WRHA seeks to decrease wait times with new Grace ER

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This article was published 23/05/2018 (2161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg health officials are aiming to reduce emergency room wait times further in the next 12 months, as the second phase of a system-wide hospital reorganization begins to take effect.

Réal Cloutier, interim president and chief executive officer of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said the goal for the year ahead is to reduce overall ER waits by 15 per cent, after a 16 per cent reduction in the past year.

Cloutier made the announcement Thursday in front of Premier Brian Pallister, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen and other dignitaries at the grand opening of the Grace Hospital’s new $43.8-million emergency department.

“In the short term, we are focused on reaching the Canadian average for emergency department wait times,” Cloutier said. “And we know by implementing these changes we are building a system that can surpass the national average and provide better care to the patients who depend on us.”

For years, Winnipeg has had some of the longest ER waits in the country.

The province and the WRHA will announce the timeline for implementing Phase 2 of the city’s hospital reorganization plan next week.

The new Grace ER, which will come into service Tuesday, marks the beginning of Phase 2, Goertzen said.

During the initial phase carried out last year, Misericordia Health Centre’s urgent care centre was closed and Victoria General Hospital’s emergency room was converted to an urgent care centre — among other system changes.

During Phase 2, Seven Oaks General Hospital will have its ER converted to an urgent care centre, and Concordia Hospital’s ER will close.

Goertzen said before these changes could take place it was necessary to boost ER capacity in the city. The new Grace ER is designed to treat more than 60,000 patients a year. Last year, its old ER handled 28,000 patients.

Plans are also underway to refurbish and expand the St. Boniface Hospital ER. A tender has been issued for that work.

Pallister said the Grace’s new, 38,000-square-foot ER was designed “based on the most advanced best-practice standards in North America.”

“We’re celebrating a state-of-the-art facility here,” the premier said Thursday.

Pallister also paid tribute to the Grace Hospital Foundation, which raised $6 million for the new emergency room and magnetic resonance imaging equipment.

On hand for the Grace ER’s grand opening were Ed and Marge Danylchuk, for whom the new facility is named. The couple donated $3.25 million to the project.

The Grace Hospital’s current 7,000-square-foot emergency department, which will close next week, is the oldest in the city. The new facility features an open-concept design, a large ambulance bay to reduce patient off-load times, an increased number of assessment and treatment spaces, as well as a connection to the Access Winnipeg West walk-in clinic.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca