Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix says the government will announce next month who will build Surrey鈥檚 second hospital, in Cloverdale, with work starting in July.

鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be the largest capital project, provincial contribution to a health capital project, in the history of British Columbia, the new Surrey hospital,鈥� Dix said.

Dix spoke on the future of healthcare in Surrey and B.C. at a luncheon Wednesday, May 17 that was hosted by the Surrey Board of Trade at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e expecting is next month we鈥檒l be announcing who鈥檚 building it, so we have a competitive building process,鈥� Dix told the Now-Leader. 鈥淎fter that, the early works will start. I expect it will be substantially completed in 2026 and open in 2027.鈥�

Surrey鈥檚 second hospital, after Surrey Memorial Hospital in Whalley, is to be built next to Kwantlen Polytechnic University at 5500 180th St. with an expected cost of $1.72 billion

Health Minister Adrian Dix on timeline for new hospital in Cloverdale, and recent stabbings at Surrey Memorial Hospital.

鈥� Tom Zytaruk (@tomzytaruk)

The new hospital will have 168 acute care beds, five operating rooms, four 鈥減rocedural鈥� rooms, 29,000 surgical procedures annually, and will be expected to take on 78,000 visits per year.

鈥淎 modern, dynamic, technologically advanced hospital,鈥� he said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 going to contribute enormously to the community.

鈥淲e鈥檙e adding a cancer centre at the second Surrey hospital. Surrey will have the highest level of cancer care of any community in B.C., which makes sense because there鈥檚 going to be more people with cancer in Surrey than any community in B.C. People ask why cancer is the specialized care you are adding to the hospital? Today, by far, the largest cause of death of Surrey residents, and 91原创 residents, and Delta residents, and White Rock residents, is cancer. By far.鈥�

Dix said B.C. is expecting the number of cancer diagnoses will go from 30,000 to 45,000. 鈥淏ut here, in Surrey, it鈥檚 going to increase by some 140 per cent over the next 15 years. We need a second cancer centre in Surrey. But when you ask why we decided to fully integrate a cancer centre, as opposed to other services into the hospital that we鈥檙e building, the second Surrey hospital that we鈥檙e building, that鈥檚 why. It鈥檚 because the experts in the area said that鈥檚 what鈥檚 needed in Surrey.鈥�

Meantime, one of the challenges Surrey Memorial Hospital faces, he noted, is that it is the only hospital in Surrey. A snapshot of SMH on May 17 had 671 patients at the hospital, with 744 total beds. 鈥淚t is busy.鈥�

Dr. Sally Barrio, the local department head of emergency medicine at SMH, presented a dire picture of the situation there.

Two days ago, she said, she admitted three patients with advanced cancer. 鈥淭hey were told in a hallway and they lay there languishing in a hallway coping with their new diagnosis. There鈥檚 no dignity in that,鈥� she said. On Wednesday, she said, there were 80 patients in her department 鈥渢he majority of them are in hallways, all of them old.鈥�

鈥淣ew hospital or not, our site needs a new tower or we need some sort of support on our campus,鈥� Barrio told Dix. 鈥淲e have a lot of complex patients that we see with multiple language barriers, health care issues from other countries, you know what the demographics are in Surrey, so it鈥檚 a very hard place to work.鈥�

More from Adrian Dix on state of health care in B.C., from media scrum in Surrey.

鈥� Tom Zytaruk (@tomzytaruk)

On Monday, Dix revealed at a presser that as of May 29 BC Cancer will offer some patients the option of receiving radiation treatment at 鈥減artner clinics鈥� in Bellingham to help reduce wait times here. Through a 鈥渢emporary agreement鈥� with North Cascade Cancer Center and Peacehealth St. Joseph Medical Center, up to 50 B.C. cancer patients per week will be 鈥渟upported鈥� across the border.

On Wednesday he said during a media scrum in Surrey that the NDP government is not considering sending more B.C. patients down to Washington for other types of treatment.

鈥淣o, there鈥檚 specific need on cancer care in that area, and that鈥檚 not a typical response or even a first desirable response but there was an opportunity here to reduce wait times in an urgent way,鈥� Dix said. 鈥淪o no, not looking at that.鈥�

鈥淭his was a specific opportunity, we saw that there was available space there and we decided to act on this, and I think it was the right decision.鈥�

tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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