Cape Breton Regional Hospital

Location

1482 George Street, Sydney, Cape Breton

Project Type

Traditional delivery

Infrastructure

Healthcare Facility, Hospital

Opened in 1995, Cape Breton Regional Hospital is the main referral and trauma centre for Cape Breton Island. It currently has 162 acute care beds, 36 emergency beds, 23 intermediate and critical care beds, family and newborn services, 52 mental health and addictions beds, and nine palliative care beds.

(Image reflects design at a certain point in the development process. It does not confirm the final design.)

Budget

Amount of contracts awarded to date: $123,854,968

Project

stand-alone Cape Breton Cancer Centre

The Cape Breton Cancer Centre opened in 1998 and currently serves more than double the patients for which it was built.

The new, larger centre will provide a more comfortable, supportive centre focused on patients and their families. Technology and additional supports under one roof will enhance the quality of care for patients, closer to home, and reduce the number of visits over the course of treatment.

Other benefits include:

Increase ability to deliver chemotherapy and provide flexibility to adapt to future changes in treatment.
Space to allow for the addition of supports like education, nutrition, psychology, and social work
Options for holistic care as part of treatment.
Space for volunteer programs.
Audio-visual equipment so patients can virtually include their families in their treatment.
State-of-the-art facilities that will help attract researchers and clinicians to advance cancer care and improve outcomes for patients.
More opportunity for research, innovation, and participation in clinical trials here at home.
Limited disruption of treatment during construction (new build).

expanded emergency department

Since the Cape Breton Regional Hospital opened in 1995, the emergency department has been renovated five times to help accommodate more patients and services.

The new emergency department will be larger with more exam and patient rooms. Emergency patients will be able to access services such as CT scanner, x-rays and ultrasound without leaving the department.

Other benefits include:

Providing more complete emergency services in the emergency department like diagnostic imaging.
Larger exam and treatment rooms.
Improving layout to allow for easier movement of patients and staff.
Larger ambulance bay.
Increasing use of telemedicine technologies.
Limited disruption of services during construction (new build).

Expanded Critical Care Department

The Cape Breton Regional Hospital is home to the second-largest Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the province. It also has a Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and an Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU).

The new department will be larger in size with more privacy, and new, separate spaces for families.

Other benefits include:

Moving patients out of the emergency department (ED) and into critical care faster, reducing pressure on the ED.
Larger rooms with more privacy for patients and space for families to sit comfortably at the bedside.
Adding family and support rooms inside the units.
Improving the work environment for doctors and staff with the three special care units under one roof.
Improved layout, providing more natural light.
Limited disruption of services during construction (new build).

New Surgical Suites

Eight new OR suites are being built as part of the new Clinical Services Building at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.
The new ORs will allow new ways of delivering surgeries.
The new Cardiac Cardiac Catheterization Lab (CCL) will be located in the surgical services area. As the second CCL in the province, it will ensure patients have timely access to cardiac care, by diagnosing and treating conditions such as clogged arteries to prevent heart attacks.

New Outpatient Beds

Two new 36-bed units with larger rooms that will offer privacy and comfort to patients and families.

family and Newborn Services

Part of the Clinical Services Building, the new Family and Newborn Services unit will provide a more supportive, private and comfortable space for patients, parents and families.
The unit will maintain key adjacencies to the new operating rooms.
Changing from two separate units (Labour and Delivery Unit and Postpartum Unit) to Labour Delivery Recovery Postpartum (LDRP) rooms will allow for labour, delivery, recovery and postpartum care to take place in the same hospital room.

Energy Centre

About. 30,000 square feet in size, the state-of-the-art Energy Centre will power and heat the new expansions, and existing Cape Breton Regional Hospital.
The Energy Centre will be registered with Efficiency Nova Scotia and the goal will be to meet targets required for Energy Star rating.
The new model will provide a cost savings for Nova Scotia Health, emit less greenhouse gas, and instead of transporting oil from outside the province, woodchips will be sourced locally.

Milestones

Upcoming

Energy centre construction continues.
Cancer centre construction continues.
Clinical Services Building continues. This includes the new emergency department, critical care department, surgical suites with cardiac catheterization lab and family/newborn services.

Completed

Construction underway on level two of the Clinical Services Building, including the elevator shafts and stairwell.
Energy Centre’s exterior doors and frames have been installed.
Concrete poured for the roofs of the Cape Breton Cancer Centre’s new linear accelerators (LINACs).
Helipad expected to be operational in spring 2024.