Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced the near completion of construction on two additional operating rooms at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital, alongside Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Travis Toews and Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard (Photo: Liam Verster / EverythingGP staff)

By Shaun Penner

11 Operating Rooms Total

Two additional operating rooms built at Grande Prairie Regional Hospital

Jul 19, 2021 | 1:49 PM

Health Minister Tyler Shandro was in Grande Prairie Monday to announce the near completion of two additional operating rooms at the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital (GPRH).

Shandro, who says he is confident the new hospital will be ready to accept patients by the end of 2021, says the GPRH will now be equipped with 11 operating rooms. He says these new ORs will allow the hospital to conduct between 3,000 to 4,000 more surgeries in the Swan City each year, reaching an expected total of 14,000-15,000 surgeries per year.

Currently, there are six operating rooms at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital.

“This project adds even more capacity to deliver surgeries and complex and state-of-the-art care to families and individuals in and around Grande Prairie,” said Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Travis Toews, who was also on hand for Monday’s announcement.

“All of us eagerly await the grand opening of our new hospital.”

Construction of both operating rooms is expected to be complete at the end of July and will then be turned over to Alberta Health Services for equipment commissioning.

The additional operating rooms will focus on surgeries with the longest wait times, says Shandro, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgeries, surgeries for kidney stones, bladder, and prostate tumours, as well as bowel and hernia surgeries.

Bariatric surgeries and breast reconstruction surgeries will also be scheduled in these operating rooms.

Shandro says recruitment to staff these new operating rooms is underway with Alberta Health Services. He says he is confident AHS will have the necessary staff in place by the time the hospital opens.

“It’s part of the commissioning process to be doing that recruitment, and doing the training now, so that everybody, when the doors are open, is ready to go,” said Shandro.

He adds part of that recruitment pitch is going to be to ensure continued investment in the hospital, as the GPRH will serve much more than just the Grande Prairie area.

“(Grande Prairie) is like a port city without an ocean,” said Shandro. “It does serve so many communities to the north.”

The construction of the additional operating rooms was funded through the Alberta Surgical Initiative at a cost of $20 million.