The provincial government says an unexpected population boom has forced it to pump another $20 million into the design of the new children’s hospital in Saskatoon.
The additional funding will allow the hospital to increase in size by 11 per cent and have room to accommodate a total of 176 private inpatient beds.
Health Minister Dustin Duncan says while unexpected population growth is not necessarily a bad thing; the planning error is not something the government wants to repeat.
“In terms of future projects, as far as the Ministry of Health is concerned, we’ll be taking a lot of lessons from this,” he says.
Nevertheless, Duncan says in spite of the recent population growth miscalculation, the government is confident the current expansion of the children’s hospital will meet the province’s changing needs for years to come.
“The province is going to continue to grow and I think that this does reflect that growth in population that we’re going to be seeing and it will ensure that when the facility opens in 2017, that it is the right size for that time and in the future.”
The changes bring the total provincial investment in the new hospital to $235.5 million.
The increase in floor size will be approximately 38,000 square feet, allowing the accommodation of an additional 24 inpatient beds.
New beds will be added in a number of areas including nine in maternal care.
The government says since the hospital’s initial design in 2011, Saskatchewan’s population has hit an all-time high of more than 1.1 million with the second highest growth rate amongst provinces in 2013, behind only Alberta.
The children’s hospital is set to open in 2017.