Hospital access narrows with broken door
The revolving door entrance to the new wing of the hospital has been barricaded and there are also some issues of accessibility with the other doors at the entrance, it emerged at the Palliser Triangle Health Advisory Council meeting Monday.
Repairs to the revolving door have started and are expected to be complete by the end of next week, said a spokesperson for Alberta Health Services.
The two regular doors on each side of the revolving door are also a bit narrower than is needed in some cases.
“We have also recognized that the accessible door can be a tight fit for some wheelchairs,” said an AHS spokesperson. “As a result, the width of the handicap accessible doors will be expanded in the coming month and should be completed in the new year.”
Alberta Infrastructure is responsible for correcting the situation.
“As this is considered a project deficiency, the project capital budget will cover off all associated costs through a contingency allocation that has been carried within the project budget,” said a spokesperson for Alberta Infrastructure.
Contingency budgets are established at the beginning of all construction projects and are used to cover unforeseen project budget expenditures, including project deficiencies, they said.
“There is no additional project cost as this corrective action is being managed from within the current capital project budget.”
Alberta Infrastructure has so far not responded to questions about why the doors were built too narrow to start with rather than taking into account larger electric wheelchairs used by some.
The new ambulatory wing addition is 23,200 square metres. It originally had a construction budget of $220 million but that was later changed to $265 million. In a “project update” provided in February/March 2016 the budget was given as $267 million.
The new addition includes complete mechanical and emergency electrical backup improvements, cardio-respiratory services, ambulatory/outpatient care, labour and delivery, renal program, surgical suites, sterile processing, cancer clinic, and the heliport.
While some departments have already moved into the new space others are still in the process of moving or are about to move.
No date for an official opening of the building has been announced.