Nova Scotia government explains Victoria General move with Facebook Live

The Nova Scotia government tried a social media experiment to explain the QEIIredevelopment Thursday evening.

But the 40 minute Facebook Live sessioncontained little new information.

The province plans to move medical services out of aging Victoria General Hospital sitein Halifax by the end of 2016 and into a variety of other centres around the region.

'A lot ofwords'

The presentation, which included pre-produced videos and a panel of speakers, was broadcast live onFacebook, and garnered a couple dozen comments and questions.

"A lot of words, not much 'real' information/answer," Marilyn Greenwood said on the post.

• Where Victoria General Hospital's services will be moved

'Dancing on egg shells'

People watching were encouraged to ask questions in the comments, but few were read out, and none exactly as written. Most were written in advance, the speakers referring to notes as they answered.

"They do seem like they're dancing on egg shells," LambertEnserinksaid in the comments.

• View the full Facebook Live presentation archived online

Privatization concerns

People seemed most interested in proposed increased partnership with the private health clinic Scotia Surgery and the idea of funding the development using a public private partnership known as P3.

• Victoria General Hospital replacement plans include demolition in 2022

Enserink's question on the subjects, "Is the introduction of private healthcare initiatives due simply to a lack of funding for the public alternative?" was not answered during the live presentation.

'Many, many projects' use P3

The province will look at other examples of P3 developments before deciding if and how it could work with the VG project, said John O'Connor, executive director of major projects with the infrastructure department.

"Many, many projects across Canada have been delivered successfully using the P3 model," he said.

Hants cost coming

In the live broadcast, the presenters said renovations currently are happening at the Dartmouth General Hospital, which should be done in a year.

• Services at the Halifax hospital site will be relocated starting at the end of 2016

Construction will nextbegin on theHantsCommunity Hospital by the fall, when a cost estimate is supposed to be done.

"There's a continuous costing and checking in as we go to ensure that the costs are agreeable and acceptable as we move forward," O'Connor said.

'Hope to see more'

As for the overall cost of the whole project, neither O'Connor nor Karen Mumford of the Nova Scotia Health Authorityhad specifics.

"Overall seemed like a pretty good presentation though," Enserink said. "I hope to see more of these!"