Province to open 'superlab' at University of Alberta
Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and Alberta Health Services staff pose in front of a picture of the Edmonton super lab location. (John Shypitka/CBC)
The Alberta government will consolidate its medical laboratory services into a public corporation under Alberta Health Services next year, with a new Edmonton facility to follow.
The province is hoping lab tests will be done more quickly and efficiently in a new integrated public facility at the University of Alberta's south campus.
The new hub near the south campus LRT station is just an empty field right now, but construction is expected to begin in 2019. The land is already owned by the government, which is expected to save $30 million in land purchase costs.
The government has already committed $20 million to planning, preliminary designs and initial site work for the consolidated lab. The total cost of the project has not yet been revealed.
The new facility will change where lab results are processed but not where patients get their lab tests done, Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said on Thursday.
"We believe that we will have as of good outcomes if not better by having it incorporated within Alberta Health Services," Hoffman said.
A site plan shows the location of the proposed super lab at the University of Alberta South Campus in Edmonton. (John Shypitka/CBC)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/lab-facility-ahs-edmonton-university-1.4461445?cmp=rss
Province announces new Edmonton super lab at University of Alberta's south campus
A parcel of provincial land near the University of Alberta’s south campus has been chosen as the site for a massive, high-tech medical testing lab scheduled to open in 2022, the provincial government announced Thursday.
Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said the facility will become the new central hub for processing more than 80 per cent of the medical tests in the Edmonton region, while also serving as a training and research centre for innovations in diagnostics.
“Improvements in how these tests will be processed will increase efficiency and speed, which leads to better health outcomes,” Hoffman told a news conference at University of Alberta Hospital. “It will reposition Alberta’s lab services for the future.”
The government did not reveal a projected cost for the facility, a strategy Hoffman said was deliberate to ensure construction bids are as low as possible.
A preliminary Alberta Health Services estimate from last year pegged the project’s price tag at about $325 million. So far, the government has committed $20 million over the next two years to put toward planning, design and initial site work.
A request for proposals to build the lab has already been launched, Hoffman said, adding that construction is expected to be fully underway sometime in 2019.
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...ounce-new-edmonton-super-lab-for-health-tests
This is the site:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@53.5030569,-113.5260717,380m/data=!3m1!1e3
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