May 13, 2005
The NDP has made an announcement about acute care beds in Surrey and at Delta Hospital.
- The NDP is adding no new money to the health care system. “The NDP plan will not increase total spending by the Ministry of Health.” (NDP Platform, p. 64) Any additional investments they intend to make will be made only by taking resources from other parts of the health care system.
- In comparison, under the BC Liberals there is more money going to services in this region than ever before. The Fraser Health Authority has received an additional $200 million in operational funding alone over the last four years – the largest increase of any health authority.
Improvements in Delta
- The BC Liberals have committed to invest the $1 million needed to allow an expansion and renovation of Delta Hospital to proceed. This is in addition to $5 million already raised for this project by the Delta Hospital Foundation and the Delta Hospital Auxiliary Society, which will go to the expansion and renovation of the emergency department, as well as surgical and ambulatory day care, the chapel and gift shop.
- The renovations will double the space available for day surgeries, and relocate day care areas, to improve services. The Fraser Health Authority has already committed to provide the staffing needed to operate the expanded emergency department and renovated hospital services.
- Other improvements that the Fraser Health Authority has already made to Delta Hospital include:
- Maintaining 24/7 emergency room services, staffed by on-site physicians;
- Opening an additional third operating room;
- Adding a resident psychiatrist at the hospital and two new paramedics for Delta; and
- Increasing the annual number of surgical day care visits by over 750 since 2001 – a more than 30 per cent increase.
- Even prior to these announced enhancements, Delta Hospital still provided a full range of services to its community. This included 24/7 emergency services, three operating rooms, three palliative hospice beds and 22 sub-acute beds, and 100 beds of residential care. The Hospital also received new ultrasound equipment and X-ray technology through provincial investments.
- Delta has also seen other healthcare improvements, including 20 new assisted living units for seniors at Augustine House.
Improvements in Surrey
- The BC Liberals have committed to fast-track improvements to hospital facilities in Surrey by immediately conducting a review to determine the best long-term hospital solution. The review will examine a range of options for tackling the long-term pressures on Surrey Memorial. Those options include, but are not limited to:
- Expanding Surrey Memorial Hospital
- Replacing the existing hospital with a brand new hospital
- Building a specialized, day-patient facility to ease pressures at Surrey Memorial
- Adding a second facility in Surrey.
- Prior to this announcement, the BC Liberals had already launched a $28 million investment toward planning and building the much-needed Emergency Room expansion at Surrey Memorial.
- Surrey Memorial Hospital has also been improved through a doubling of its hemodialysis capacity (to 33 stations), the replacement of the aging CT scanner, and a new MRI scanner with renovations.
- Surrey has also received a number of other enhancements to its healthcare system, including the funding of 75 residential care beds at Fleetwood Place, and an additional 60 under construction at the adjacent Fleetwood Villa, and 60 new assisted living units recently opened at The Gateway.
