There is now room for more patients with serious health problems at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. <\/p>\n
The new \u201chigh-acuity\u201d unit not only has a higher capacity than the one it replaced, but it comes with extensive improvements that are having a direct impact on staffing.<\/p>\n
The new 12-bed high-acuity unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH) for patients with complex needs, those who need more care than a regular hospital ward but not as much as they\u2019d receive in intensive care.<\/p>\n
Watch the full report below:<\/p>\n
Island Health says it\u2019s got all the bells and whistles and is a vast improvement from the previous space.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a game-changer in terms of our ability to provide care for the patients and the families that need it,\u201d said Jane Marriott, Island Health\u2019s clinical lead for the high-acuity unit.<\/p>\n
The new unit replaces an interim one built during the COVID-19 pandemic but also adds four additional beds. <\/p>\n
The improvements are extensive, from a lift that can help patients to the private bathrooms and showers in every room, to expandable beds so loved ones can sleep with a patient, to having enough plug sockets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of power bars and so tripping hazards. We were crawling under beds trying to make it neat and tidy, and it\u2019s hard to do so when you don\u2019t have the ability to plug things in when you need to, and so that was very challenging,\u201d said Marriott.<\/p>\n
The opening of this $18.5 million unit comes just over two years after the opening of a new 12-bed intensive care unit at the hospital, which cost $41.6 million. The hospital\u2019s old ICU was deemed the most dangerous in Canada in 2013. <\/p>\n
\u201cAlready this is having an impact on health care worker recruitment and retention,\u201d said Sheila Malcolmson, Nanaimo\u2019s MLA.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge leap forward, and we couldn\u2019t have done it if we hadn\u2019t done it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
While these latest additions are desperately needed, and construction is also now underway on a new cancer unit on site, there are still calls for improvements in other areas, including heart services and a new patient tower.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnow that your three regional MLAs are pushing very hard, the finance minister, the infrastructure minister, the health minister, to make sure that those projects advance,\u201d said Malcolmson, on behalf of herself, MLA George Anderson and MLA Stephanie Higginson, who were also speaking at the unit\u2019s opening.<\/p>\n