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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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VICTORIA – A request for expression of interest is being issued for a new state-of-the-art hospital and cancer centre in Abbotsford that will provide Fraser Valley residents with improved services and increased access to care.
Health Services Minister Colin Hansen and Finance Minister Gary Collins made the announcement today.
“As part of our New Era platform for renewing public health care, we committed to better managing our health resources to meet patients’ needs,” Hansen said. “The people of the Fraser Valley urgently need a new hospital. They have been waiting for that facility since 1987, when previous governments started promising to build it. Today, our government is acting to honour that commitment.”
The project will include a hospital and a cancer centre with a combined total of up to 300 beds, covering an area of 55,000 square metres, about three times the size of the current MSA acute care hospital.
The new hospital will provide MRI services; general surgery and all inpatient and outpatient surgical services, including vascular; nuclear medicine; a full renal dialysis program; specialized obstetrics and nurserycare; pediatric services; and special adult medical services. The cancer centre will provide much-needed diagnosis and treatment services.
The province is pursuing a public-private partnership, known as a P3, for this facility, which is the second health-care project of this type in British Columbia.
“As part of our commitment to better manage resources, we need to ensure that we are providing services as efficiently as possible,” Collins said. “P3s are a way that we can deliver improved publicly funded and accessible services, while ensuring the best value for taxpayers’ dollars.”
The decision to pursue a P3 model was made after extensive analysis and review by Partnerships British Columbia, the Fraser Health Authority, the Provincial Health Services Authority and the Ministry of Health Services. The health authorities will continue to be responsible for providing clinical services at the facility.
Partnerships BC, the provincial agency responsible for P3s, will manage the project on behalf of the Ministry of Health Services, the Fraser Health Authority and the Provincial Health Services Authority.
“We recently met with the Health and Finance ministers and reconfirmed our support for this project,” said Abe Neufeld, chair of the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District, which is helping to fund the project. “We are pleased with today’s news as we know the new centre will allow us to meet the needs of area residents for many years to come.
“This is a rapidly growing region with an aging population,” Neufeld added. “A new hospital is long overdue, and cancer facilities are badly needed.”
The provincial government will pay the operating costs once the facility is open. Construction is expected to begin in 2004, with completion in 2007.
The request for expression of interest document can be obtained through the BC Bid Web site at www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca/.
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