Frustration over the state of care at the Red Deer Regional Hospital has been growing for years and residents have been pushing for a facility expansion that doctors say is desperately needed.

A 2015 study found the hospital was short 96 beds, 18 stretchers and three operating rooms, and just four years ago it was third on the AHS priority list.

But it fell off the list in 2016, and that’s the case again this year. With staff and stakeholder frustrations mounting, what will it take to put the Red Deer Hospital back on the provincial radar?