Bayers Lake outpatient clinic to open Monday

The Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre will officially open its doors to patients on Monday.

Premier Tim Houston, joined by doctors and healthcare workers, visited the facility on Dugger Mcneil Drive for its ribbon cutting on Wednesday.

The $259.4-million new build is Nova Scotia’s first public-private partnership (P3) in health care.

“Bayers Lake is just the start. We have a plan that includes a new hospital, emergency department and cancer centre,” Houston said. “We’re focused on more, better, and faster health care for Nova Scotians, and this facility is one of the ways we’re doing that.”

As of next week, some patients who receive outpatient services at Nova Scotia Health facilities will be redirected to the new facility in Halifax.

The relocation of some services from the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre’s Victoria General and Infirmary sites in Halifax is a move made to help reduce pressure from other facilities in Halifax Regional Municipality and West Hants. The facility will also see the expansion of some services from other health-care facilities.

The Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre has more than 100 clinical spaces, as well as 24 dialysis stations. The centre will also be home to other services such as diagnostic imaging (X-rays, ultrasounds and bone density scanning), a musculoskeletal and rehabilitation program, an eye care clinic for adult and pediatric patients and blood collection service.

The centre’s core hours of operation will be on weekdays, however, Nova Scotia Health said several services will operate on evenings and weekends.

Nova Scotia Health said there is plenty of parking at the facility, which is located near highways 102 and 103, and is now on a new Halifax Transit route.