Conditions at the Thompson General Hospital lab are "a significant risk to quality and safety," according to a Diagnostic Services Manitoba (DSM) internal document obtained by CBC.
At the time the document was written in 2016, air quality and lighting conditions in the Thompson lab were so poor they were impacting the ability to provide test results when humidity shut machines down and workers couldn't see well enough to accurately interpret test results.
The 2017-18 Annual Health Plan, drafted to provide an overview of DSM's priorities to the provincial government, also said that the lab cannot expand to offer new rapid tuberculosis testing without a total redevelopment. Renovations to heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in the lab were approved and are expected to be complete in March.
The Thompson lab was identified as the top capital priority for DSM in the plan, which was temporarily posted online accidentally, and it was the eighth year in a row that a renovation had been requested.
Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, which represents workers at the Thompson lab, told the CBC the issues noted in the document had been brought to the government's attention many times.
Thompson's lab was built in 1961 and has not been significantly renovated since, though the number of tests performed there has increased nearly two-and-a-half times since 2003. The document also said diagnostic imaging at the lab has gone up 30 per cent in recent years and that only one of the two radiology suites is easily accessible for those in wheelchairs and stretchers.
A health department spokesperson told the CBC that the Progressive Conservative government invested $30 million into high-priority capital upgrades at health facilities and personal care homes last year, including roof repairs, lab upgrades, mould remediation, window replacements and work on heating, ventilation and cooling systems.
Services provided by DSM will become part of a new provincial health organization called Shared Health Services Manitoba in the spring.
