$600K in security, safety improvements for Hillsborough Hospital

The province has announced $600,000 in upgrades to improve safety and security for patients and staff at theHillsboroughHospital, P.E.I.'s main psychiatric facility.

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Building a new provincial psychiatric facility is not part of the three-year capital plan released in the legislature last week instead, the province said it is still working on a master plan for mental health health programming and infrastructure.

"As future planning gets underway, care and safety standards need to be met at the current Hillsborough Hospital," noted Health and Wellness Minister Robert Henderson in a written release Tuesday.

A closed-circuit television system and security monitoring station, new security features in two patient units and new electrical and fire panels will be added in the building. Some of the infrastructure will be installed in such a way that it can be moved to a new facility, the release notes.

The province expects the work to be finished by March 31, 2017.

In the past, government said it would begin planning for a new hospital in 2019. The Opposition has called for the hospital to be replaced.

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