Cancer Centre to be built at South Health Campus, Foothills services to expand

The PCs say the new Calgary Cancer Centre will be at the South Health Campus, changing course on the party’s earlier plan for a one-stop shop at the Foothills Medical Centre.

Speaking at the campus Monday, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice was joined by multiple officials as he announced the centre will be part of a two-site services plan.

With the centre at the southern campus, cancer services at Foothills will be expanded and Prentice said while they’ve wrestled with the fiscal problems in the province, there was always a plan to get the centre built.

“This was always at the top of the priorities list,” he said. “This clearly was a facility that was needed and it’s been a priority and it’s reflected as a priority in this Capital Plan.”

Health Minister Stephen Mandel said the centre is scheduled to open in 2020, with the hope of construction to start in 12-15 months, but the cost remains a mystery.

Mandel said they are going to wait and see what the bids will be.

“We have an estimate, we believe the estimate is in the ballpark and we have those monies allocated and we think it’ll be, we hope it’ll be a little less than that, but we’ll see what happens,” he said, not saying what the estimate is either. “We have enough money to build it, I can guarantee you that it will be built, very nicely.”

In 2012, the Redford government announced a state of the art centre at the Foothills campus and Prentice defended the new plan of having two different sites for care, saying it will cut down on congestion.

Alberta Health Services President and CEO Vickie Kaminski said cancer services are delivered in almost all hospitals in the province, so there’s no model for having just one site.

She said the academic parts of cancer care, such as research and bone marrow transplants, should be consolidated, but many Albertans access care in their own communities.

“We are getting I think the best of both worlds,” she said. “The consolidated, academic, research-based, highly specialized, highly technical skills and ability in one site and general cancer services in the second site to improve access to care for all.”

While it’s not clear how much it will cost, $3.4 billion is going towards health facilities in the next five years.

Other capital projects in Calgary include the Peter Lougheed Centre women’s services and vascular renovations, McCaig Tower capacity expansion and renovation, as well as at emergency departments at Lougheed and South Health.

Projects outside the city include a new urgent care centre in Airdrie, Red Deer obstetrical unit renovations and funding to redevelop or replace the Raymond and Taber Health Centres, Lethbridge Chinook Regional Hospital and the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.

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