Changes are coming to labs at the Fort Saskatchewan Community Hospital and the Strathcona County Health Centre.
Effective December 5, urgent-care labs in both places will shift their focus to emergency, inpatient, and ambulatory patients. Community patients will be directed to independent labs in the community.
The change will affect several other hospitals across the Edmonton area, and will only be implemented in areas where community labs are already in operation.
This comes as the province continues to a broader shift of moving lab work towards community labs such as DynaLIFE Medical Laboratories. The province believes that, by making this change, patients will be able to receive lab work in a more efficient and effective manner without sacrificing quality.
Patients who have already booked appointments at a hospital lab on or after December 5 will be redirected to a community lab.
Hospital labs will still be treating immunocompromised patients through physician or clinic referrals.
Other notable hospitals included in this change are the Sturgeon Community Hospital in St. Albert and the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Edmonton.