BURNABY, B.C. – Burnaby Hospital will get its first major upgrades in 40 years in one of B.C.’s largest health care investments ever.
“Every person in B.C. deserves quality public health care, and our government is working hard to upgrade, expand and modernize health-care facilities and hospitals in Burnaby and around the province,” said Premier John Horgan. “Burnaby is growing rapidly, and the hospital needs to be upgraded and modernized to keep up. This significant investment will help deliver the health care people in Burnaby need in world-class facilities.”
The $1.3 billion project will address every part of the existing hospital facility. It includes two patient-care towers with new wards and operating rooms, a total of almost 400 beds (the majority in single rooms), a bigger emergency department and a new cancer treatment centre.
“People in the community have a close connection to Burnaby Hospital, as do I, and I’m proud our government is following through on its commitment to redevelop the facility with a visionary plan to meet the public health-care needs of residents,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “After years of inaction, it’s a big day for people in Burnaby as they will be able to access care in a state-of-the-art hospital for decades to come.”
The current hospital contains 297 beds and opened in 1952. It provides acute and emergency care, as well as general and internal medicine, general surgery, neonatal intensive care, palliative care and an adult mental health and substance use in-patient unit.
Planning for the project began in November 2017 when officials directed Fraser Health to commence planning a complete redevelopment of the campus – a significantly more substantive commitment than the conceptual renewal plan for the hospital announced in April 2017.
The project will start with a new six-storey, 11,858 square-metre, 78-bed, patient-care tower. The tower will include an upgraded mental health and substance use inpatient unit, and a new maternity ward to offer enhanced care for new parents and their families. The tower is expected to open in 2023, with construction starting in 2021.
The redevelopment will also upgrade the support facilities building on campus, creating a larger emergency department, increasing the number of treatment bays from 47 to 62, and adding a new medical device reprocessing unit. It will also add four new operating rooms, bringing the total to nine; as well as 18 new pre-operative and post-operative recovery spaces. These upgrades are expected to be complete by 2024.
The second patient-care tower will have 160 new beds and a state-of-the-art cancer treatment centre. It is expected to open in 2027. Detailed business planning for the tower is underway, with construction expected to begin in 2024.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed