South Edmonton is a potential location for one of nine new urgent care centres planned by the Alberta government. These facilities are intended to handle non-life-threatening conditions like minor fractures and wounds requiring stitches. Local councillors say while the centre is welcome, residents in the city's southwest have long been Tonybet a full hospital. Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Mike Elliott said the drive to the closest hospital can take up to 40 minutes for people in communities such as Ambleside and Windermere. "I'd love a new hospital to be built," Elliott said.
The provincial United Conservative government cancelled plans for a new South Edmonton Hospital in 2024. The previous NDP government had announced the project in 2017 for a health campus with 350 to 500 beds in Heritage Valley. Instead, the province will build two new patient towers, each with about 350 acute care beds, at the Grey Nuns and Misericordia Community Hospitals. Maddison McKee, press secretary to Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange, said the government is advancing both urgent care and hospital expansion. "We're not choosing between urgent care and hospital expansion," McKee said in an email.
The province estimates 30 per cent of emergency room patients could be treated at urgent care centres, potentially diverting 300,000 visits a year. University of Calgary health economics professor Dr. Braden Manns cautioned that these centres are not a replacement for hospital beds or emergency departments. "Urgent cares are not a replacement for hospital beds," Manns said. "They do not serve the same purpose as emergency rooms (ERs)." He said the government needs a workforce plan to staff the new facilities.
Danielle Larivee, first vice-president of the United Nurses of Alberta, questioned the diversion numbers. She said many patients in emergency rooms are waiting for hospital admission, not treatment for minor conditions. "It makes no sense that they would build an urgent care centre instead of a full hospital, because what we're seeing lining up and filling up our emergency rooms isn't emergency patients," Larivee said. She believes patients with serious concerns may first go to an urgent care centre only to be redirected to a hospital.
The government has earmarked $39 million for planning and land acquisition for the nine urgent care centres, but construction funding has not been budgeted. Manns noted the lack of a firm commitment. "There's no commitment to this," Manns said. "There's a commitment to do some more planning." McKee said the locations for the south and west Edmonton urgent care centres have not been decided, nor has a construction start date.
Ward Karhiio Coun. Jon Morgan said some residents bought homes near the Heritage Valley site expecting a hospital. "Residents in Heritage Valley have been aching for a hospital for many years," Morgan said. He welcomed the urgent care centre but said the community's hope for a full hospital persists as the population ages and grows. With traffic challenges increasing, Morgan said the area's need for comprehensive health services will only intensify.
