Construction on Regina urgent care centre set to begin

Work is set to begin on a new urgent care facility in Regina.

The Saskatchewan government announced Thursday that construction will begin at the facility — which is to be located at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Albert Street — with completion expected by the middle of 2023.

“I think what it does is that it bolsters our overall health-care system,” said Everett Hindley, the province’s minister of mental health and addictions, seniors and rural and remote health. “Ideally what this will do is help take some of the pressure off of our emergency room departments.

“Ultimately, it would be our hope that this would reduce emergency wait room times by having another option for people to use.”

Hindley said there currently isn’t a specific target in terms of wait times that the government hopes to see the care centre reach.

The facility is expected to provide more timely care for people needing immediate medical attention and diagnostic services and also provide mental health and addictions support.

“This new centre will give people access to safe and appropriate care, including mental health and addictions services, 24 hours a day, every day,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in a news release. “It will be a key resource for people who need care quickly, but who do not require a trip to emergency.”

Hindley said a facility like this shows the ways health care has changed over the years.

“This is the first of its kind for Saskatchewan but there are other jurisdictions that operate urgent care centres. I’ve seen them in the United States, for example, and I think it goes to show how the health-care system is evolving and providing other options to treat people in a timely fashion,” Hindley said.

Hindley said when you think of a typical emergency room, it can be seen as a catch-all for everything.

“This would be the type of facility that a parent might bring a child to if they’ve broken their arm or if you have an illness or a fever perhaps that you don’t think you could wait until tomorrow or a few days to get an appointment with your family physician. This would be the type of centre that you would come to,” Hindley said.

The cost of the building is about $15 million. Planning is continuing for a centre in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority will own and operate the facility. Planning for staffing is currently underway but the number of staff that will be needed is not yet known.

“We haven’t finalized our staffing for the new facility. That’s work that’s still underway with the planning,” said interim SHA CEO Andrew Will.

Will said both the urgent care centre and an emergency room would be able to provide similar services but an ER would provide better acuity.

“They have to triage those patients that have the most serious health-care needs (at an emergency room). I think having an urgent care centre like this gives an opportunity for people who have less urgent needs to access those cares and services in a timely way without needing to wait while more urgent patients are cared for,” Will said.