PREMIER ANNOUNCES SURREY OUTPATIENT HOSPITAL LOCATION

SURREY – Premier Gordon Campbell today announced that the Green Timbers site in Surrey will be home to the new 148,000-square foot Surrey Outpatient Hospital as part of the Province’s plans to improve access to health care and ease congestion at Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH).

“The health-care needs of the people of Surrey and the entire Fraser Valley have been a top priority for our government,” said Campbell. “The Surrey Outpatient Hospital will provide more space and better facilities for day surgeries, health clinics and family medicine while freeing up space for an expanded emergency room and more acute care beds at Surrey Memorial.”

The planned Surrey Outpatient Hospital will be located at a 5.8-acre site on the corner of 140^th Street and the Fraser Highway, at an estimated cost of $126 million. Construction is expected to begin in 2008 with completion in 2009. The site is currently Crown Land owned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands and will be transferred to the Ministry of Health for approximately $1 million.

The Fraser Health Authority chose the Green Timbers location because it is less than one km from Surrey Memorial Hospital and offers easy access for patients by road and public transportation while also allowing for future opportunities for growth. The site is also cost-effective because of the availability of above-ground parking.

“The site for the new outpatient hospital is based on what is best for the residents of Surrey,” said Health Minister George Abbott. “Surrey Memorial Hospital was built in 1959 to serve a population of approximately 70,000 compared to a diverse cultural population and community of over 330,000 today. Our expansion plan will serve the residents of Surrey today and in the future.”

Surrey Memorial Hospital handled 154,159 outpatient visits in 2005/06. This number is expected to grow by 60 per cent by 2020. Many outpatient services are fragmented and dispersed throughout various buildings and floor levels at SMH, resulting in complicated “way-finding” and lengthy walking distances for patients. The existing facility, as it is currently configured, is not efficient for delivery of outpatient care and is unable to accommodate the growth required to meet future patient needs.

“More than half the current patient visits at Surrey Memorial are for out-patient care and that proportion is rising,” said Fraser Health’s interim CEO Keith Anderson. “Identifying Green Timbers as the site for the future home of the outpatient facility and primary care clinic is a major development in our plans to serve the health needs of Surrey’s growing population.”

Building a specialized, day-patient facility to ease pressure at Surrey Memorial Hospital was first proposed by Premier Campbell in May 2005. A subsequent report outlining a range of options endorsed by government was released in December 2005 and included the recommendation of the outpatient hospital and primary care centre. Moving outpatient services to the new location will create additional space in Surrey Memorial Hospital for inpatient needs and allow work to begin on the remaining recommendations. These include increasing acute care beds and building a new emergency facility.

In addition to today’s announcement of the site for the Surrey Outpatient Hospital, the provincial government has taken several actions to improve health care in Surrey and throughout the Fraser Valley:

· Building the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre.

· Opened a new $4.8-million Minor Treatment Centre at Surrey Memorial to relieve ER congestion by treating more than 80 patients a day.

· Opened a 20-bed, sub-acute unit in Surrey to care for patients either preparing to return home or move into residential care.

· Opened 10 new hospice beds and 18 additional acute geriatric beds in Surrey.

· Improving Delta Hospital, including the expansion and renovation of the emergency department as well as surgical and ambulatory day care.

Future plans to improve health care in Surrey include:

· A new, state-of-the-art Emergency Room and urgent care facility to triple existing floor space at SMH. Construction is planned to begin in 2008 with the project complete by 2010.

· A new perinatal care facility at SMH.

· 67 new acute and critical care beds by the end of 2007.

· 12 new renal stations in 2009.

· 250 new residential care beds built by the end of 2008.

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Media contact:	Mike Morton Press Secretary Office of the Premier 250 213-8218	Marisa Adair Communications Director Ministry of Health 250 920-8500 250 952-1887 (media line)

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