Surrey getting a new hospital, in cloverdale

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Surrey will be getting a new hospital, in Cloverdale. Premier John Horgan and Health Minister Adrian Dix were in Cloverdale at the Museum of Surrey on Monday to announce the “brand new hospital” will be built beside Kwantlen Polytechnic University, which is located at 5500-180th Street. “It’s going to be a very fast-paced process,” Horgan said. “It’s a happy day.” Horgan said the province’s business plan may take 12 months to put together.“I think we’ll be through the business plan about this time next year in 2020 and then we’ll be going to tender,” Horgan said, adding shovels could break ground by the end of 2021. The new hospital will have an emergency department, inpatient beds, operating rooms, and laboratory, diagnostic and outpatient services. Dix told Black Press Media the challenge is to build a hospital that not only addresses the needs of residents, but also complements other hospitals in the area.“(Surrey Memorial) is full and everyone is stuck in the emergency room when they’re admitted – they can’t go into the wards – so we’re trying to alleviate some of that.”He also said the Cloverdale hospital will have more beds for elective surgeries. “It’s super-exciting for Cloverdale,” Dix said, “because you’re talking about a huge number of employees working here. You also have to think about how they’re going to get here, where they will live, how they’re going to deal with that.” Councillor Doug Elford said the announcement means big changes are coming to the area. “(Cloverdale’s) going to have doctors’ offices, support services, everything down here is going to change,” he said Monday. Elford said traffic routes, including Highway 10, around the area may be changing too. “It’s all going to be based on the services around the hospital. Doctors will want to be close. It’s going to change the face of Cloverdale completely.”Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum told Black Press Media the announcement was great news for the residents of Surrey.“It’s been long overdue.” McCallum said the choice of Cloverdale is significant because it is well-positioned in an area of need, between both Langley Memorial and Peace Arch hospitals, and southeast of Surrey Memorial. McCallum said he plans to sit down with TransLink to push hard for better transportation to and from Cloverdale. In terms of the traffic congestion that a new hospital will bring, he said the City is going to embrace more technology to solve potential gridlock woes.“We’re going to be bringing some initiatives ahead on how to improve traffic across the city.” Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health, said Surrey’s new hospital “allows us to re-envision how health services can meet the demands of this fastgrowing and diverse community with an expansion of services and the incorporation of virtual health-care services that go beyond the walls of the hospital.” Surrey is currently served by Surrey Memorial Hospital, opened in 1959, Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, opened in 1954, and the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre which was opened in Green Timbers in 2011.