Renovations are under way at the Sechelt Hospital’s emergency department; the four-phase interior renovation to improve safety and privacy for patients and staff started in December and is slated to be done this summer.
The emergency department will remain operational, but some patients will be treated in the mobile medical unit, which has been on-site outside of the department since late last year.
When Coast Reporter visited Jan. 18, hospital staff were getting ready to welcome patients into the high-tech space. The Health Emergency Management B.C.-owned unit is essentially a trailer, transported by semi, that then has pop-out sections that can expand to 1,100 square feet. Designed to be versatile, the trailer can be used in disasters, it’s been used in medical response to the toxic drug crisis on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and can be used to support capacity at hospitals in cases such as this.
Phase 2 under way
The second phase of renovations started Jan. 29, at which point, the emergency department was to start looking at staffing the mobile unit, said Karen Inkpen, one of the managers of acute services at the hospital.
The space is expected to hold treatment chairs, stretcher space and then at the back, there’s a separate room that can be used should any small medical procedures need to be carried out.
In Phase 2 of the emergency department renovations, part of the work will be in treatment rooms that have a total of three beds (a number that will increase to five by the end of the project). Those beds will move into what is currently the fast-track area, and the fast-track area will move into the mobile unit.
“We'll be utilizing this as we need to, it just gives us flexibility,” said Inkpen. “We’ll have decreased capacity [in the emergency department], it just kind of helps us maintain that capacity.”
The renovations – which have a $3.05 million budget – will improve patient flow, said Inkpen. “It'll improve our ability to monitor people who are waiting to be seen.”
She explained that the triage area is being opened up, the patient flow is changing, there are washrooms being added and there’s some reallocation of space.
To Inkpen’s knowledge, this is the first major renovation since the new emergency department opened with the hospital’s tower expansion in 2013.
“It’ll address some of the safety concerns that staff have had around flow,” said Inkpen, adding that as the Coast is growing, increasing capacity is also important.
"Once completed, the upgraded ED will feature a new dedicated mental health assessment room and triage space for increased privacy, as well as a room for patients with larger families that supports our commitment to creating culturally safe spaces for Indigenous patients and clients," said a press release from VCH. "The upgrades will also add one new stretcher, three new treatment chairs, additional bathroom facilities, improved sightlines for enhanced safety, and a waiting area closer to the emergency department to better support patients."
How will several months of renovations affect patients? Inkpen said they’ll do their best to lessen the impact on services. “There may be some increased wait times, it's hard to say,” she said. “We will certainly do our best to try and maintain the highest standard that we currently provide to the residents of the Coast.”
Those who may need to visit the emergency department can see projected wait times at edwaittimes.ca/WaitTimes.aspx.
