A new acute care tower will be built at Surrey Memorial Hospital on its south-west side, with a price tag not yet known but expected to be in the billions.
Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the project at a presser at the hospital on Monday morning.
91裸聊视频淪urrey91裸聊视频檚 quickly growing population needs health care to grow with it,91裸聊视频� Eby said. 91裸聊视频淧eople need to know health care is accessible, not after a long wait or a long drive to another community. World-class health care should be available right here in Surrey. Today, I am announcing that a new acute care tower is on the way for the Surrey Memorial Hospital to help meet local needs by adding more hospital beds and more services south of the Fraser River.91裸聊视频�
The project is at the concept-plan approval stage but 91裸聊视频渋t91裸聊视频檚 in the budget and we will deliver it,91裸聊视频� Eby said. After it goes out to tender, he said, the government will have 91裸聊视频渁 better idea91裸聊视频� on construction costs.
91裸聊视频淲e are immediately into the place where we need feedback from the health care professionals who work here, from members of the community about what is needed, how to ensure that this tower delivers the care that the people of Surrey deserve,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淲e will be leaning on you for you advice, for your information, as we go forward and do this planning process.91裸聊视频�
The project is expected to be in a business-planning phase over the next 15 to 18 months and its anticipated it will add acute and specialized care capacity to the hospital91裸聊视频檚 campus, including medical, surgical, pediatric, perinatal, women91裸聊视频檚-health, mental-health and stroke care services. After that phase is completed, procurement will start and construction will get underway.
Kevin Falcon, leader of the opposition and BC United, called the tower announcement 91裸聊视频渃learly a very last-minute kind of announcement, I91裸聊视频檝e been a finance minister, all the tell-tale signs are there. It91裸聊视频檚 done at the last minute, it looks rushed, there91裸聊视频檚 no clear timeline, there91裸聊视频檚 no business case. It91裸聊视频檚 something that91裸聊视频檚 obviously an attempt to change the channel on the fact that they have a series problem with anti-Semitism within their own caucus.
91裸聊视频淪adly what we91裸聊视频檝e seen today is a government in crisis that is just trying to take this announcement and spit something out without anything in the budget that actually is allocated toward a second tower for Surrey Memorial Hospital,91裸聊视频� Falcon charged.
Dix said this new tower is among 91裸聊视频渉istoric investments in health-care services that will make a huge difference in the lives of people in Surrey.91裸聊视频� Asked for a ballpark estimate of how much this new tower will cost, Dix told the Now-Leader that money is approved in the provincial government91裸聊视频檚 10-year capital plan. 91裸聊视频淭his kind of project, you91裸聊视频檙e talking about not millions but billions, right, and this kind of project if you look at other projects that are like this, are coming in right now in the neighbourhood of $1.3-$1.4 billion but we want to plan it out in detail because we have very significant ambitions for this project,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淭his is in our capital plan so by definition we have room for it. It should be said that is for Surrey, and for really any community in B.C., there has not been a time, and I have some understanding of the history of health care in B.C., we91裸聊视频檝e never seen this level of investment.
91裸聊视频淚f there isn91裸聊视频檛 money for it in the budget, you don91裸聊视频檛 announce it. That91裸聊视频檚 just straight forward,91裸聊视频� Dix said.
Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health, added it marks a 91裸聊视频渟ignificant milestone in our mission to meet the dynamic health needs of our growing population.
91裸聊视频淥ur vision for the cutting-edge health-services campus is to inspire innovation and excellence for our patients, families and communities, and to be the best place to work for our teams,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淲hat a momentous day.91裸聊视频�
Surrey91裸聊视频檚 population is roughly 685,000 and grew at a rate of 3.8 per cent from 2022 to 2023, more than 2,000 people each month.
Surrey MLA Bruce Ralston called it a 91裸聊视频渇antastic, great, wonderful announcement.
91裸聊视频淭his is such a big day, one that will be of critical importance to our community,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淪urrey is growing, everyone knows that, it never stops. You just look up King George and see the towers sprouting up there 91裸聊视频� the landscape changes every month. And with growth comes the need for services, more services, particularly health care.91裸聊视频�
Dr. Marietta Van Den Berg, SMH91裸聊视频檚 medical director, noted that during the presser one if not two babies had been born there. 91裸聊视频淲e honestly should be ringing a bell every time this happens.91裸聊视频� On average 15 babies are born at SMH every 24 hours, she said.
91裸聊视频淲hile these projects are exciting and hopeful, they will take time,91裸聊视频� she noted. 91裸聊视频淭his means that we91裸聊视频檒l also will have long waits in our emergency department and we still will have hallway beds, for a while. I want to assure you that nobody in this hospital wishes to provide that kind of care. We do our best, despite that. What we want is a right-sized and right-sourced Surrey.91裸聊视频�
