Quote:
Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark
This conversation would be better placed in a hospital thread, but what the heck - I'll pile on.
Regarding the future of the VG - wasn't the plan at one point to add on to the Infirmary site at Robie and Bell (formerly occupied by QE High and now by a sort of urban farm)?
So, wouldn't a good plan be to bolster the Infirmary site to cover the peninsula and add the Bayers Lake site to cover the suburbs? It actually doesn't seem like a bad way (economics aside) to get good health care coverage for all...  |
That is exactly what the Premier announced. The QE2 stays and will be expanded.
I understand Kentville is now the place for knee surgery. Obviously the province doesn't want to spend a pile of money when rational use of existing facilities is a cheaper and more effective answer to our problem. Peninsula hotels have made a pile of money from selling rooms to patients who have to travel in for early morning minor procedures and expecting older people to just accept the risk and burden of travelling to Halifax is mean spirited. Day surgery/examination starts at 8 a.m. The couple killed on the 103 were travelling in for the dialysis of the retired man - 3 trips a week.
The only way to properly understand the issue is to view Google earth and see where the population is now and where it will be over the next 2 decades. If you live in Clayton Park you will arrive at Bayers Lake well before the VG or the QE2. And read the Regional Plan - Bedford, Bedford west and MSVU are the long term drivers of population growth.
I had a colonoscopy in January - at Cobequid. Previous procedures were at the VG. I get to Cobequid just as quick as the VG and without crossing the bridge.
They told me they would see me in 5 years. I needed a heart monitor, so off to the VG and try to find parking and then back to the VG next day. I then had an ultrasound at Dartmouth General - no trip over the bridge. Many procedures/examinations that once were the sole domain of the VG and QE2 are now carried out elsewhere at locations closer to the population. Bayers Lake is just the continuation of sensible policies that should have been implemented long ago. The good news is that the days of blood and urine samples being collected solely at the VG are well behind us, amazing how continuous deficits and an ageing population can force us to improve and rationalise the delivery of healthcare.