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The new capital submission doesn’t say why the Red Deer expansion is back on the list this year, though it notes the hospital’s resources have been strained due to growing patient volumes.

“The (hospital) is currently not meeting AHS performance measure targets for emergency room wait times, length of stay, and also has longer wait times for surgical procedures,” the document said. “Medical beds have been consistently operating well over 100 per cent occupancy for a number of years.”

The project would involve the construction of a new building that would include space for new beds and other services.

An AHS report completed in 2015 said the hospital had an immediate need for 79 new beds, an expanded emergency department, a handful of new operating rooms and other upgrades to provide proper patient care.

Red Deer doctors have also been clamouring for AHS to add new speciality services, particularly a cardiac catheterization lab that would allow heart patients to get vital tests in the city rather being sent to Calgary or Edmonton.

The AHS submission did not provide a cost for the expansion, though the project was given a preliminary estimate of $750 million a few years ago.

The Red Deer expansion is by far the most expensive of the nine projects included on the AHS priority list. The other eight projects, all of which were included on last year’s list, together have a projected cost of $572.7 million.

Those eight include an expansion of the energy centre at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, a redevelopment of the kitchen at the Foothills hospital in Calgary and renovations to two other Calgary hospitals.