Plan in works for second hospital in Surrey
The B.C. government has started preliminary planning work for a second hospital in Surrey, the province’s fastest-growing city.
On Monday, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced a request for proposals has been issued seeking a consultant to complete a concept plan for the hospital. The plan, promised during the 2017 provincial election campaign, is expected to take a year to complete.
“Surrey Memorial Hospital delivers first-class health care, but we recognize with a rapidly growing community that access to this care is becoming difficult for a great number of people,” Dix said.
“We made a commitment to British Columbians to address this need and today we are taking the first planning step in making sure people living in this region have better access to quality care.”
The plan will identify potential sites for a hospital. Dix said some potential sites have previously been sold by the province.
Dix said the plan will also look at what types of services the hospital would provide. He said the hospital should be geared toward Surrey’s growing population and have services such as enhanced pediatric care, daycare procedures and short-stay surgeries, including but not limited to orthopedics and women’s health.
Dix said consultation with First Nations will be an important part of the planning process.
The concept planning stage is followed by the preparation of a business plan. Dix said it typically takes six to 10 years to build a hospital, and it’s important to start planning immediately. “The longer you delay a start, the longer, of course, it takes to finish,” he said.
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner said council has long advocated for another hospital in Surrey and is pleased to hear work is starting.
“I know how hard the people at Surrey Memorial work and the incredible quality of care that they give to our community, but there’s no question in my mind that they’re stretched and this concept plan … is timely, and a necessary planning for a city as large as ours,” Hepner said.
Jim Sinclair, chair of the Fraser Health board of directors, said he was pleased to support the announcement and pledged that Fraser Health will be listening to the community as it moves forward with the new hospital.
“There will be choices to be made and we’ll make that hopefully on the best information we can so the people of Surrey and this region get the best possible facility to serve their needs,” Sinclair said.
When the NDP first announced in the spring it would be doing a “strategic analysis,” it estimated that analysis would cost $3 million.
Dix did not provide an updated figure for the cost of the concept plan, saying the RFP process would determine the cost. The province and Fraser Health will fund it together.
When asked what the budget for the entire project would be, Dix said that figure will come later in the planning process.
Surrey Memorial Hospital, the second-largest hospital in B.C. and home to the province’s busiest emergency department, recently underwent significant upgrades.
A new emergency department opened for service in 2013 and a critical care tower opened in 2014.
According to The 2017/20182019/2020 Ministry of Health service plan released in September, final renovations to a support services tunnel between the existing hospital campus and the new tower are expected to be finished in spring 2018.