New dialysis units coming to three N.S. hospitals

Three hospitals in Nova Scotia will be getting new dialysis units, the provincial government announced Wednesday.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson says the six-station units will be located at All Saints Springhill Hospital, Roseway Hospital in Shelburne and Strait Richmond Hospital in Evanston.

“As our population grows, so too does the need for increased access to life-saving dialysis treatment closer to home,” Thompson says. “Using a new and innovative construction method, we’re going to build and open new dialysis units faster.”

That new construction method is called “Design for Manufacture and Assembly”. The provincial government says the approach allows facilities to be built off-site and then assembled on-site.

According to a government media release, a dialysis unit built using the new method can be built in less than two years, while traditional construction methods take much longer.

Construction won’t begin until a vendor is chosen and a detailed design is completed.