Cambridge hospital expansion opening delayed again
CAMBRIDGE — Frustration is growing among staff and officials at Cambridge Memorial Hospital as the handing over of the new A-wing has been delayed for the fifth time this year.
“Frustration puts it mildly,” hospital president and CEO Patrick Gaskin said following Wednesday’s board meeting.
At the meeting, members of the board learned that progress on completing the new wing is going slower than expected and the builders now say the hand-off will take place July 26.
“We don’t believe that is going to happen, we’re thinking more like September,” he said.
At this point, construction on the second, third and fourth levels of the hospital is progressing. Work is also continuing on the wireless phone system, and the installation of the new card readers for security is complete.
On the building’s exterior, work has yet to be completed on finishing the asphalt, sidewalks and bridge connecting the new and existing hospital.
Inside the new wing, work is continuing at a slow pace on painting, installing panels, and mechanical and electrical work. Crews have addressed about half of the deficiencies found on the first floor and can’t start on the ground floor until construction is completed.
Board member Tom Dean, who sits on the hospital’s capital project subcommittee, called the news of another delay in the handover “disconcerting.”
On May 10, the hospital was officially notified that construction would be pushed out another month from June 30 to July 26.
“That is a 20-month push out from the original date,” Dean said. “This again requires Cambridge Memorial Hospital to recast all its dates a month further.”
The new wing was originally scheduled for completion in November 2016.
The latest delay means that officials at the hospital will again have to reschedule the delivery of new furnishings and equipment, staff training as well as the work required to organize the move into the new wing.
The $187-million project is being overseen by the provincial government and is out of the hospital’s control.
“We’re in the home stretch, but we can’t move in until all the deficiencies are dealt with,” Gaskin said. “We want everything to be right and it’s going to take a little more time.”
Asked what penalties might be applied as a result of the delays, Gaskin said the only leverage the government and hospital have is that the contractor won’t be paid until the project is completed.
The opening of the new wing can’t come soon enough for many staff members. At Wednesday’s meeting, Rosemary Lywood — manager of the hospital’s women and children program — voiced her department’s frustration with the delays.
“Just give us a date. The move that keeps moving is a concern for us,” she said. “There is a lot of prep to do once we have a date.”
Lywood said her program is in the oldest part of the hospital and “the wait is frustrating for everyone.”
Once the keys for the new wing are handed to the hospital, it will take another eight weeks to get the new facility ready to serve patients. That, if the current schedule is kept, would mean the new wing would be open for business in late September. Even then the work of overhauling the old hospital isn’t done. There is still the job of renovating 150,000 square feet of the existing hospital. The entire project is slated for completion in January 2021.