Critical care centre opening delayed

Equipment delays have pushed the opening date for the critical care centre at Brandon’s hospital to mid-June.

The new space was scheduled to be providing patient care last month.

The associate chief medical officer for Prairie Mountain Health said the delays have to do with safely transitioning patients and staff from the current 10-bed Intensive Care Unit into the new building.

“My understanding is there is equipment being put in place and (a) delay is appropriate for patients and staff to ensure all is transitioned correctly and safely,” said Dr. Kyle Conrad, who’s also a family physician and anesthetist at the hospital.

“Things will go forward once we are ready and we are all excited to enjoy the new space.”

Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate was unable to provide an interview with the Sun on Tuesday and Wednesday, but she said in a statement that there have been “slight delays” and the centre expects to open in mid-June.

Slate did not respond to followup questions, including the reason for the delay, whether equipment needs to be installed and how the regional health authority plans to safely transition patients and staff into the new ICU.

Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said delays aren’t uncommon in health infrastructure projects.

“Sometimes there can be delays on receiving equipment or getting some of those last finishing details completed, and that’s the case here,” Asagwara said on Wednesday.

The minister said they were unsure what equipment the hospital is still waiting for.

Last week, the Sun was inside the hospital’s critical care centre for an interview on an unrelated matter and saw the ICU on the centre’s first floor was not in use.

Some patient rooms were still being set up and multiple IV poles were in the hallway.

“We’re still on track to open sooner than later, which is really, really exciting,” Asagwara said.

“Folks in the Westman are going to have a beautiful critical care unit that is going to be staffed with some of the best and brightest front-line health-care workers Manitobans could hope for.”

Asagwara described the new centre as a state-of-the-art facility that is innovative, supportive and welcoming to help the sickest people in western Manitoba.

The ICU has a 16-bed capacity, but challenges to hire health-care staff have led the hospital to start with opening 12 beds, Prairie Mountain Health has previously said. Similarly, the Internal Medicine Unit on the centre’s second floor will open 15 of its 30-bed unit as more staff are hired.

“We are going to keep doing the work so that we can fully staff additional beds as we move forward, but our focus is doing this in a sustainable and responsible way,” Asagwara said.

“That’s the approach we’ve taken so far, and that’s the approach we’re going to continue to take.”

During a press conference at the health facility in April, announcing its planned opening for the following month, Slate said she hoped the four remaining ICU beds will be fully staffed this year.

She didn’t provide a timeline on when the remaining 15 beds in the Internal Medicine Unit would open.

Asagwara said the province is continuing to recruit health-care workers at the centre and that these efforts are “going well.”

“People are well aware of how beautiful and innovative these new units are, and so they’re excited for the opportunity to be a part of something new, and something that they know is going to deliver the highest quality care to folks in the Westman region,” they said.

The province spent approximately $120 million on the building, which started construction in the fall of 2022.

The third floor is a mechanical space, and the fourth level is a shell space for a neonatal intensive care unit, enabling the future development of specialized neonatal services.

The Brandon Regional Health Centre has the only 24-hour ICU between Winnipeg and Regina and is one of four ICUs in Manitoba.

Kathleen Cook, Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party health critic, said delays in health-care centres opening on schedule are becoming a pattern with the NDP government.

“The opening of the new emergency department at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg was delayed. The opening of the Portage hospital has been significantly delayed, and now we’re hearing about delays opening the critical care centre in Brandon,” Cook said.

“The NDP seem to be repeatedly caught off guard by their own opening dates, and I think that’s disappointing for Manitobans.”

She said if any part of the delay has to do with staffing issues, then it’s up to the NDP government to resolve that.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com