In early 2019, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital became the sole emergency-care provider in Lancaster City when the city’s one other hospital closed its doors. To meet the increased demand, LG Health added nine ED beds in a temporary annex building that summer, increasing the total number of beds to 54. That year, the LGH Emergency Department, designed for 90,000 annual visits, saw 118,000 visits.
Aware of the increasingly high demand for emergency services throughout the region, LG Health had already been planning a major expansion of the ED. Despite some delays caused by the onset of the COVID-19, the project is once again in motion. Pending internal and municipal approvals, construction could begin this month.
As one of the largest investments in facilities and technology in LG Health’s history, the 40,000-square-foot expansion will nearly double the hospital’s current ED to 95 beds, with the capacity to serve 140,000 patients annually. Plans include increasing the number of behavioral-health treatment rooms to five; doubling the number of trauma bays to four; and adding 12 new pediatric-treatment rooms.
After the expansion opens in summer 2022, the hospital’s existing ED will be renovated and open roughly 18 months later. The temporary nine-bed annex will be removed upon completion of the expansion.
To make room for new Emergency Department construction, LGH’s Food Service department and dining area will move to the hospital’s first floor, where it will undergo an expansion and first update in more than 30 years.