Cancer care focus of latest health funding

The Alberta government has announced $1.3 billion over the next three years for improved health care in the province.

In Calgary, $141 million will be spent on cancer care.

That money will allow some services to leave the Foothills Medical Centre for the Richmond Road Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, allowing 64 beds and two radiation vaults to be added to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre at Foothills.

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said that means all cancer treatment in Calgary would be brought together on one site at the Tom Baker within four years. Right now, some care is provided at the Holy Cross Centre.

The Peter Lougheed Centre will also get $25 million for their vascular surgery program.

Two operating rooms at PLC will be redeveloped to accommodate increased volume and more complex cases. An inpatient vascular surgical unit will also be relocated and expanded, and eight more beds will be added to the vascular surgery unit.

Another $11.6 million will go to the women's health program at PLC, which will involve the renovation of the hospital's entire third floor and the redevelopment of the neonatal intensive care unit, labour and delivery rooms and other areas. Five labour and delivery rooms and one operating room will also be added.

In Edmonton, $67 million will be spent to add a new PET/CT scanner and radiation therapy vault to the Cross Cancer Institute; $10 million will go to the prostate cancer clinic at the Northern Alberta Urology Centre; and $8.7 million will go towardsexpanding and renovating the pediatric intensive care unit at the Stollery Childrens' Hospital and improving the efficiency of the facility's pediatric and neonatal ICUs.

The University of Alberta Hospital will receive $14.5 million to move and expand the endoscopy suite.

The government has allocated more than $40 million for the Safe Communities initiative, which will involve the development of 100 new addiction and mental health beds in the province, including Calgary and Edmonton.