Since opening on December 4th, GPRH is seeing nearly 300 visitors every day. Senior Operating Officer Stacy Greening says that the number varies, depending on what patients come in for on different days.
“The number really depends on the number of patients seeking care and our surgical procedures. We have people come in for large surgical procedures, which usually means they’ll stay for about four hours”, she explains. “We also see days where more people come in for one-hour surgical procedures, which means we would see four patients in four hours.”
GPRH officials expect the hospital to have about 100,000 visitors per year.
As far as Emergency Room (ER) wait times, Greening says that the wait will depend on what patients are in for.
“Wait times tend to fluctuate depending on what services you need. If you’re experiencing a trauma, such as being involved in a car crash, you’re likely to get taken care of more quickly than someone who has a sore throat. We also do see a number of STARS landings here as well.”
Greening adds that until the hospital has been open for close to a year, they won’t be able to determine what exactly the average wait times are for the ER.
In terms of surgeries, Greening says that the hospital continues to work with people to ensure they get their appointments.
“With 11 operating rooms and an obstetrical OR, we have double the capacity we had at the QEII, so we continue to work with patients who’ve had their surgeries postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to manage that and we have been given additional resources through the Alberta Surgical Initiative as well,” she says.
GPRH officials feel their staff have done an incredible job, especially with the one-day move process from the QEII. As with any new space, there is a learning process but the staff has helped make a difficult transition easier.