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The following thread is my personal reflection regarding the cancellation of the Edmonton Clinical Lab Hub project and what it means for Laboratory Services and more importantly, what it means for patient care in the region: [1/12]
[2/12] The infrastructure and space demands in Edmonton medical laboratories are real. Questions about space and capacity challenges were first raised in 2007, and continue to be raised with every accreditation visit we get. #TheStruggleIsReal
[3/12] What kind of challenges are we talking about? Well aside from pathologists and supervisors sharing offices (or at times not getting an office at all), we have equipment crammed into small spaces causing instruments to overheat #HotMess
[4/12] Lab departments are forced to split their work across multiple locations leading to inefficiencies and longer wait times for results. Lab staff have been forced to get creative in finding space and spreading out across town, but the situation is unsustainable. #SpreadThin
[5/12] This doesn’t even take into account the lost opportunity for world-class research, innovation, and education to take place all in the same space, which would have been enabled by a project like the Edmonton Lab Hub. #MissedConnection
[6/12] How much will the cancellation cost? So far $23 million has been sunk into the project, and that doesn’t include the money spent on the original project that the NDP cancelled, along with the countless hours spent by dedicated lab staff on both projects. #UndoRedoUndo
[7/12] This also doesn’t include the money that will be paid to cancel contracts with construction companies (look for announcements from Alberta infrastructure for that number) and reclaim the land that was already prepped for construction. #MoneyPit
[8/12] The original project cancelled by @albertaNDP, and the recent cancellation announced by @Alberta_UCP represent two opposing ideological views regarding Laboratory Services. The laboratory, and patient care, are being punted around like a political football #SnapDecisions
[9/12] At least after the last cancellation, an expert review was called, and the @HQCA concluded that consolidation of laboratory services and the creation of the Lab Hub in Edmonton were needed. Now it’s back to the drawing board and more consultation #RunningOutOfExperts
[10/12] The cancellation of the project also affects the repurposing of thousands of square meters of space in the Walter Mackenzie Centre for patient care space, which is now lost since the lab isn’t going anywhere. #Grounded
[11/12] The bottom line is that this cancellation will result in wasted resources, increased costs, continued inefficient laboratory services, continued use of outdated equipment and testing protocols, and sub-optimal patient care both today and in the future. #CareCantWait
[12/12] In the end, laboratory professionals do what we do for our patients. That’s what gets us out of bed in the morning, and we will not waver in our commitment to improving patient care despite this frustrating news. We are resilient. #WeAreLab 💪🔬
