Capital Health's Royal Alexandra Hospital

The Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) is one of Capital Health’s largest and longest serving hospitals, offering general and specialized medical and surgical health services, and featuring one of Canada’s busiest emergency departments.

Located in the heart of Edmonton’s city centre, the Royal Alex serves a diverse community stretching from downtown Edmonton to western and northern Canada. We operate 678 beds and care for 450,000 patients annually. We are proud to employ over 4,800 full- and part-time staff.

The RAH is home to the Women’s Health Centre, the Regional Eye Centre and the Aboriginal Health program, in addition to a wide range of child, adult and geriatric programs and services. The Alex also houses the region’s largest Medicine Program with 227 beds, accounting for over forty per cent of the region’s inpatient programs.

The Royal Alex is on the province’s leading and largest surgical hospitals - more than 28,000 surgical procedures are done annually. The Royal Alex also has a lead role in the development of minimally invasive surgery, a rapidly evolving technique that helps patients heal and recover faster and return sooner to productive lives.

The Royal Alex’s Cardiac Services program is nationally recognized for its innovative work in the non-urgent treatment of heart disease, including being the first in North America to perform a coronary angiogram on an outpatient basis. The program also has the largest angioplasty volumes in North America for a site without cardiac surgery on-site.

As a teaching hospital, the RAH has a strong affiliation with the University of Alberta Departments of Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Family Medicine.

Royal Alexandra Redevelopment Project

In June 2003 capital Health announced a major $210 million plus redevelopment of the Royal Alex that will bring new and expanded acute care and teaching services to people across the Capital Health region, central and northern Alberta and Canada’s northwest. This project will involve the construction of a new six story building that will house the new Lois Hole Hospital for Women and Cardiac Services, as well as additional inpatient medical and surgical beds.

The new building will also be home to a Learning Centre that will strengthen the Royal Alex’s role as a teaching hospital and provide for improved professional development opportunities for staff and physicians in the region and the outlying communities we serve.

In addition, the Ambulatory Care centre project is also creating new homes for several key programs as well as expanding access to new technology and equipment. As part of this project we have opened six new digital operating theatres for our Ophthalmology and ENT departments, with room for expansion into another four theaters and a new Endoscopy Suite. Also part of this project is a 19-bed observation unit in the Emergency Department, the first of its kind in the region. This unit will allow us to better address the needs of Emergency patients and improve throughput.

Photos Courtesy of Capital Health