Construction of the Surrey Outpatient Hospital is well underway, but how exactly will this new facility improve health in the region?

To begin, an outpatient is someone who is not hospitalized and does not require an overnight stay in a medical facility. To that end, the Outpatient Hospital will combine specialized diagnostic and surgeries, along with clinical community services, all under one roof. Surrey Memorial currently handles 134,000 outpatient clinical visits and performs 94,000 outpatient diagnostic procedures – most of which will transfer to the new facility and relieve congestion and space at SMH.

In addition, the Outpatient Hospital will bring three new programs to the region:

• A breast health diagnostic procedure, based on European models, that will reduce wait times from seven months to 14 days!
• The first comprehensive HIV/AIDS/Hep C program in the Valley
• Specialized urology services that will non-invasively treat kidney, gallbladder, and liver stones

The $239 million LEED Gold facility is expected to be open in the summer of 2011. While the exterior is complete, the building’s interior is being constructed at this point in time.

While the Critical Care Tower isn’t actually a tower, it will bring significant improvements to the SMH campus. The 274,000 sq. ft. building will add a total of 151 new beds. The emergency department will be five times as large as the existing facility and include specialized mental health and geriatric units. There will also be a separate children’s ER, an enhanced minor treatment unit, and an improved acute care ward. In addition, a new perinatal centre, with 48 neonatal intensive care unit beds, will help to treat premature infants. Finally, the Tower will include a rooftop helipad.

Three teams have been shortlisted to design, build, finance, and maintain the $600 million project:

• BC Healthcare Solutions
• ISL Health
• Integrated Team Solutions

The finalist will be chosen in 2010. The new emergency department is scheduled to open in 2013, with the rest of the Critical Care Tower by 2014.

As part of a short series on the future of Surrey Memorial, we kick things off with an examination of Fraser Health’s long term vision for the venerable Hospital.

The regional healthy authority is currently developing a long term master plan under which SMH will transform into a “world-class health campus and model medical community that serves the entire Fraser Health district.”

The primary focus of the plan is the new Emergency Critical Care Tower, which is under bid by three finalists at this point. The new building will provide an emergency ward that is five times as large as the current facility.

Fraser Health also has plans to renovate significant portions of the Hospital, however this is contingent on Provincial funding and unlikely to occur before 2020.

The final piece of news, and perhaps the most exciting, are plans to engage with UBC to bring an expanded Clinical Academic Campus to Surrey. According to Fraser Health’s website:

Additional academic space will be created, to support the growing partnership between Fraser Health (FH) and the University of British Columbia medical school. When complete, SMH will become part of FH’s clinical academic campus, working in conjunction with Royal Columbian Hospital, improving the province’s capacity to train new doctors.

This follows on rumours of attempts to build a new medical school for the Fraser Valley. In early 2009, reports leaked that Fraser Health was actively courting SFU or UBC to partner with on such a training facility. Perhaps FHA has found its educational partner.

Creekside will provide an alternative space for drug or alcohol addicted people to detox. Currently, they either go to the Emergency Ward at SMH or end up in jail. Creekside will provide users with addition treatment and rehab, as well as supportive housing through that process. The Health and Housing Centre will be built adjacent to SMH and operated by the Phoenix Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Society.

Alder Gardens, operated by the YWCA Vancouver, will provide 36 self-contained supportive housing units for women and children at risk of homelessness. It is located in Newton around the Library and Senior’s Centre.

Currently, the intoxicated are either sent to the emergency ward at SMH or directly to jail. The new centre would redirect these people to more appropriate services. The centre would also include transitional, and possibly permanent affordable, housing.

It is planned to be built on a one-acre plot of city owned land near similar facilities, including the Phoenix Centre and Creekside Withdrawal Management Centre.

Along with the new emergency care centre, Surrey Memorial is due to see some long needed expansion very soon.