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Hospital expansion due for completion in early 2018

Health Care
hospital
The final phase of the Sechelt Hospital Expansion Project involves a new ambulatory care unit.

The Sechelt Hospital Expansion Project could be finished early next year, according to a Sunshine Coast Regional Hospital District (RHD) provisional budget staff report.

“It’ll be early in 2018 is what we understand right now,” said Frank Mauro, chair of the Sunshine Coast Regional Hospital District Board.

Carrie Stefanson, public affairs leader at Vancouver Coast Health, declined to comment on the status of the latest phase, but did state “VCH confirms we are on track to meet that date.”

The expected total cost of the project is $46.2 million, with Vancouver Coastal Health paying 60 per cent and the RHD taking on the rest of the share, which to date is $15.2 million. The RHD will pay the remaining $888,112 in 2018. It has stayed largely on budget, with costs initially projected to be around $45 million.

Sunshine Coast residents can expect to pay less in the RHD portion of their property tax as a result of the project completion, with the RHD portion expected to drop 17.6 per cent over 2017, though this will be finalized with the adoption of the budget in March 2018.

The latest phase involves improvements to the ambulatory care department, an updated endoscopy suite and more space for acute care patient beds.

“We’re expecting a better level of care and more facilities at the hospital and the reduction of the requirement for people to go off-Coast for some services,” said Mauro, who points to ambulatory care as one of the major items to be addressed in the final phase of the project.

The expansion began in 2010 with an expected completion date of October 2012. Construction delays and technical issues hindered progress, and in 2013 the project hit another roadblock when VCH reassessed the needs of the community, which had changed since plans were drawn up in 2007. Among those needs were more patient beds.

In a letter addressed to Health Minister Adrian Dix, Michelle Chapman, member of the Protect Public Health Care coalition on the Sunshine Coast, said that renovations to the second floor of the hospital “will create a 13-bed overflow unit if the funds can be found to operate it.” Her group has been lobbying the ministry to find the funds to renovate the unit “and ease some of the pressure on the acute care wards.”

When asked what the completion of the hospital expansion project will do to address the need for long-term care – an ongoing issue on the Coast – Mauro said the RHD encourages Vancouver Coastal Health to continue searching for solutions, including building long-term care facilities, since they relieve the pressure on the hospital.

“Hospital facilities are much more expensive than long-term care facilities … so we shouldn’t be paying that high acute care price for residential or longer term care that could be provided with a more appropriate facility at a lower cost,” he said.