>>>> NS government

The redevelopment of the QEII Health Sciences Centre is a once in a generation opportunity to rebuild and improve the way health care is delivered in Nova Scotia.

Today, Oct. 4, government and the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) unveiled a milestone in the redevelopment of the QEII Health Sciences Centre. The QEII New Generation project will result in better care, reduced wait times and cancer services offered at one location.

A major expansion of the Halifax Infirmary site is the biggest component of the project.

“The Halifax Infirmary is the heart of the redevelopment of the QEII,” said Premier Stephen McNeil. “The new facilities will have the most advanced equipment and technology to handle the most complex care in Atlantic Canada. This will help reduce wait times, provide continuous uninterrupted care, as well as help recruit and retain doctors, nurses and other health professionals.”

The expansion of the Halifax Infirmary site will include:
— a new QEII Cancer Centre that provides all cancer care services in one location. Services will be relocated from the VG site to the Halifax Infirmary site.
— an expanded inpatient care centre with over 600 hospital beds, 28 operating rooms, 33 intensive care beds and 15 intermediate care beds.
— a new outpatient centre that will deliver services that do not require an overnight stay in the hospital, bringing clinics together in one location, and be home to the QEII Eye Care Centre.
— a new innovation and learning centre that will see three learning and training labs together under one roof to support distance education and strengthen the QEII Health Sciences Centre’s research and teaching mandate.

Dr. Drew Bethune, medical director, provincial cancer care program, NSHA, highlighted the importance of providing all cancer care services at one site.

“Right now, some of our sickest patients are being transferred from one site to another for treatment,” said Dr. Bethune. “Offering everything at one location means that will no longer be necessary. The new centre will also lead the way for innovation and research in cancer treatment.”

The QEII New Generation project also includes the development of a new community outpatient centre in Bayers Lake. It will offer a more convenient location for the thousands of Nova Scotians who have to travel to Halifax for certain care or services. Most of these services will also remain at the Halifax Infirmary site for people who live in Halifax and will continue to use the Infirmary as a community hospital.

“The QEII Health Sciences Centre is a resource for all Nova Scotians – and indeed Atlantic Canadians,” said NSHA president and CEO Janet Knox. “In addition to providing excellent care, the QEII is a leading academic and research institution supporting the development of future health professionals and shaping the future of health-care delivery through world-class research and innovation. This plan will ensure we’re better positioned to do all of that and more today and for generations to come.”

Funding for construction to expand the Halifax Infirmary site and develop the community outpatient centre in Bayers Lake will be through a public-private-partnership (P3) using the design-build-finance-maintain model. A request for qualifications will be issued this fall for a partner to do the design build, finance and maintenance of the project over a 30-year period.

Other components of the QEII New Generation project, like the expansion and renovations to the Dartmouth General Hospital, are well underway. Renovations of an unused operating room and existing operating room at the Hants Community Hospital in Windsor were completed in February 2018.

The redevelopment of the QEII Health Sciences Centre will support the eventual closure of the Centennial, Victoria and Dickson buildings.

For updates on QEII New Generation, go to https://HealthRedevelopment.novascotia.ca.

>>>> NSGEU

 This morning, Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government announced their QEII redevelopment plans, which include the eventual decommissioning of part of the Victoria General site and the construction of five new health care buildings in the Halifax area using a P3 model.

This means that a private company will be paid to not only design and build our province’s central health care facilities, but they will finance and maintain the project for 30 years.

“We have needed new health care facilities in this province for a very long time, but this government has chosen the most expensive way to get this project done,” said NSGEU President Jason MacLean.

“Nova Scotians have already wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on other costly P3 projects – more than 30 schools, toll roads, and the Burnside jail, just to name a few. Why are we going down this road again?”

This government’s own former Deputy Minister of Health, Peter Vaughan, is on the record as saying P3 projects are a bad idea. In a document obtained via Freedom of Information, he wrote:

It is difficult to find examples of successful P3s where there are no criticisms. In audits by provincial auditors general it’s been discovered that:

Nova Scotia:

Roads: An estimated more than $300 million in tolls were produced on the Cobequid Pass for a deal in which private financiers put up $66 million. The government is paying an effective Interest rate of 10% for 30 years, twice its rate of borrowing.

Schools: The Dept of Education was criticized for its lack of effective oversight and management of contracts.

DHW: in numerous audits, DHW has been criticized by the Auditor General for its challenges in providing effective oversight and holding entities accountable.

“While we are glad to hear that the public and our members, who deliver care in these buildings each and every day, will finally have safe, new facilities to work and receive treatment in, it is deeply disappointing that this government has decided to allow private companies to profit off of our public health system,” said MacLean.

The NSGEU is committed to working with the employer, the NSHA, to ensure our members’ jobs will be protected when construction is complete on these new facilities.

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Source : Media Release