The territorial government and Yukon Hospital Corp. confirmed this morning 10 continuing care beds will indeed be added to the Thomson Centre to reduce the pressures next door at the Whitehorse General Hospital.

The plans are part of a $5-million effort the government announced this morning.

It includes additions to home care services and programming for long-term patients who are waiting for long-term care beds, among others.

Department staff such as the cancer care navigator, among others, currently use the rooms that will be made available to residents.

Plans are already in place for them to be moved to other parts of the hospital campus or other government locations, Craig Tuton, the hospital corporation’s chair, told reporters.

Today’s announcement saw Tuton, Premier Darrell Pasloski, Health and Social Services Minister Mike Nixon, and Dr. Wayne MacNicol, Whitehorse General Hospital’s chief of staff, praise health care staff as they have dealt with a challenging situation at the hospital, with long-term care patients staying at the hospital awaiting long-term care beds.

In a letter published in the Star last month, Dr. David Storey, a long-time surgeon, detailed the issues being faced, including the cancellation of elective surgeries and delays between surgeries.

Storey wondered why Thomson Centre could not be used for some patients.

At the time, officials pointed to the 150-bed continuing care facility being built in Whistle Bend that is anticipated to open in 2018.

The building will also be designed to accommodate up to 150 additional beds in the future.

It was also noted at that time that the Thomson Centre had been looked at a few years ago as a possibility for more beds. The renovations weren’t pursued due to the high costs to bring it up to a standard for long-term care or acute hospital care, officials had said.

On Friday, when questioned by the Star about potential plans to renovate the Thomson Centre, officials would not confirm anything, stating that no firm commitment had been made, but an announcement was expected today.

During this morning’s announcement in the foyer of the Thomson Centre, government and hospital officials praised the work that went into coming up with a way to help alleviate some of the issues until the Whistle Bend facility is built.

“All parties have been working diligently on ways to alleviate the increased demands on both the hospital and on continuing-care beds,” Pasloski said.

“The Whistle Bend facility is the long-term solution. Taking these steps will improve the situation until the time that vital facility is up and running.”

As a temporary facility, the Thomson Centre will not be renovated to the same standard Whistle Bend will be built to.

Portable lifts, for example, will be used rather than the permanent overhead lifts that would normally be employed.

Tuton told reporters renovations will be required, but they will not be significant.

It will mean ensuring the plumbing is working, perhaps changing out some flooring, adding the portable lifts, beds and other features to the rooms for residents.

A tender for the work is expected to go out as soon as possible.

“For our patients and their families, this is positive news,” he said, adding that it is also a positive for staff.

As for the $5 million that will go to all the efforts being made at the Thomson Centre, in home care services and continuing care programming, Pasloski acknowledged the government had not budgeted for it in this year’s spending plan.

He went on though to explain the territory will be moving forward money that was planned to be spent down the road in the long-term at the Whistle Bend facility to facilitate beds here.

Staff hired to work at the Thomson Centre, for example, will be moved to Whistle Bend when it opens.

Along with the plans outlined for the Thomson Centre, in home care and to programming, it was also announced the government will also be working with the hospital to create four “holding beds”.

They will be used for patients who have been treated in emergency and are waiting to be admitted for treatment and recovery.

That will not change the number of beds available for acute care.

However, it will mean fewer patients held in the emergency department while they wait for a bed in another part of the hospital.

Also highlighted in the announcement were the opening of the Birch Lodge in Whitehorse last fall, which added another 10 continuing care beds, and the opening of the renovated McDonald Lodge in Dawson City.

That facility raised the bed count from 11 to 15.