Alberta putting $17 million toward planning urgent care centres

The Alberta government says it will spend$17 million to plan nine new urgent care centres across the province. Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says the centres will besmaller than hospitals and designed to treat people with urgent but non-life-threatening medical needs, such as broken bones.

Alberta has six urgent care centres in operation and LaGrange says the new facilities would help reduce emergency room wait times in hospitals. She says the funding is earmarked for cities across the province, including Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Airdrie and Lethbridge.

LaGrange says the locations were chosen based on demand in hospitals and expected population growth. She says each centre will be publicly funded and operated by Alberta Health Services except for the one in Airdrie, which is to be run by a private contractor.

``I hope we can see the facility doors open as quickly as possible,'' LaGrange said. ``It all depends on how quickly the planning can get done.''