The Manitoba government is investing $31.6 million to expand the Selkirk Regional Health Centre, positioning the facility to play an increased role in the provincial surgery program while continuing to serve the emergency and urgent care needs of patients in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority (IERHA).
“The COVID-19 pandemic has been, and continues to be, the most significant challenge of our time,” said Premier Heather Stefanson. “It has created and exposed challenges and opportunities in our health-care system and it has reaffirmed our commitment to provide better health care with reduced wait times, improved access and more services in communities closer to home for all Manitobans. Today’s announcement will help to ensure Manitobans living, working and travelling through this region of the province will be able to access the care they need when they need it.”
The $31.6-million investment will fund a significant expansion of the facility, increasing acute care inpatient beds by 30 and enhancing Selkirk’s ability to treat and monitor sicker patients. The site, which provides a wide variety of health services for the region, will be further established with more specialized services, including surgical and inpatient care. The new beds will allow care to be delivered locally for an increased number of inpatients and a higher volume of surgical and endoscopy patients. Surgeries performed at the site, which include general procedures, gynecology, urology, plastics and endoscopy, will be increased when the renovations are complete.
“We are investing in the improvement of patient care for Manitobans in the Interlake-Eastern health region,” said Health and Seniors Care Minister Audrey Gordon. “These investments will strengthen Selkirk’s capacity to care for sicker and more specialized patients from across the IERHA including many who would otherwise be cared for in Winnipeg.”
Construction on the project is slated to begin next year, noted Gordon. The project will also include some minor design changes to improve patient flow and expand treatment capacity within the emergency department, which sees patients from across the Interlake-Eastern health region as well as some from the northern suburbs of Winnipeg.
“This new investment in Selkirk Regional Health Centre will allow us to increase the number of people we can care for at any given time and it will allow us to provide regional residents with access to surgical services closer to home,” said Dr. David Matear, CEO, IERHA. “It further establishes the value of this facility over the long-term as our regional hub for health-care service delivery and its integral role in the continuum of hospital-based care across the region and within the province.”
Manitoba’s Clinical and Preventive Services Plan is committed to improving access, quality and equity of care, noted the premier and minister. An important component of this work is collaborative and meaningful engagement with Indigenous leaders, communities and health experts across Manitoba to ensure the province builds an equitable and culturally safe health system that is accessible and responds to the needs and priorities of all.
As first announced in Budget 2021, Manitoba is making a historic $812-million capital investment in building, expanding and renovating health-care facilities across the province in support of Manitoba’s Clinical and Preventive Services Plan . The plan, led by clinicians, improves access to care for all Manitobans and identifies the planned upgrades in Selkirk as being pivotal to efforts to support better care sooner and as close to home as possible.
