A new acute care tower will be built at Surrey Memorial Hospital on its south-west side, with a price tag not yet known but expected to be in the billions.

Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the project at a presser at the hospital on Monday morning.

sa国际传媒淪urreysa国际传媒檚 quickly growing population needs health care to grow with it,sa国际传媒� Eby said. sa国际传媒淧eople need to know health care is accessible, not after a long wait or a long drive to another community. World-class health care should be available right here in Surrey. Today, I am announcing that a new acute care tower is on the way for the Surrey Memorial Hospital to help meet local needs by adding more hospital beds and more services south of the Fraser River.sa国际传媒�

The project is at the concept-plan approval stage but sa国际传媒渋tsa国际传媒檚 in the budget and we will deliver it,sa国际传媒� Eby said. After it goes out to tender, he said, the government will have sa国际传媒渁 better ideasa国际传媒� on construction costs.

sa国际传媒淲e are immediately into the place where we need feedback from the health care professionals who work here, from members of the community about what is needed, how to ensure that this tower delivers the care that the people of Surrey deserve,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淲e will be leaning on you for you advice, for your information, as we go forward and do this planning process.sa国际传媒�

The project is expected to be in a business-planning phase over the next 15 to 18 months and its anticipated it will add acute and specialized care capacity to the hospitalsa国际传媒檚 campus, including medical, surgical, pediatric, perinatal, womensa国际传媒檚-health, mental-health and stroke care services. After that phase is completed, procurement will start and construction will get underway.

Kevin Falcon, leader of the opposition and BC United, called the tower announcement sa国际传媒渃learly a very last-minute kind of announcement, Isa国际传媒檝e been a finance minister, all the tell-tale signs are there. Itsa国际传媒檚 done at the last minute, it looks rushed, theresa国际传媒檚 no clear timeline, theresa国际传媒檚 no business case. Itsa国际传媒檚 something thatsa国际传媒檚 obviously an attempt to change the channel on the fact that they have a series problem with anti-Semitism within their own caucus.

sa国际传媒淪adly what wesa国际传媒檝e seen today is a government in crisis that is just trying to take this announcement and spit something out without anything in the budget that actually is allocated toward a second tower for Surrey Memorial Hospital,sa国际传媒� Falcon charged.

Dix said this new tower is among sa国际传媒渉istoric investments in health-care services that will make a huge difference in the lives of people in Surrey.sa国际传媒� Asked for a ballpark estimate of how much this new tower will cost, Dix told the Now-Leader that money is approved in the provincial governmentsa国际传媒檚 10-year capital plan. sa国际传媒淭his kind of project, yousa国际传媒檙e talking about not millions but billions, right, and this kind of project if you look at other projects that are like this, are coming in right now in the neighbourhood of $1.3-$1.4 billion but we want to plan it out in detail because we have very significant ambitions for this project,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淭his is in our capital plan so by definition we have room for it. It should be said that is for Surrey, and for really any community in B.C., there has not been a time, and I have some understanding of the history of health care in B.C., wesa国际传媒檝e never seen this level of investment.

sa国际传媒淚f there isnsa国际传媒檛 money for it in the budget, you donsa国际传媒檛 announce it. Thatsa国际传媒檚 just straight forward,sa国际传媒� Dix said.

Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health, added it marks a sa国际传媒渟ignificant milestone in our mission to meet the dynamic health needs of our growing population.

sa国际传媒淥ur vision for the cutting-edge health-services campus is to inspire innovation and excellence for our patients, families and communities, and to be the best place to work for our teams,sa国际传媒� she said. sa国际传媒淲hat a momentous day.sa国际传媒�

Surreysa国际传媒檚 population is roughly 685,000 and grew at a rate of 3.8 per cent from 2022 to 2023, more than 2,000 people each month.

Surrey MLA Bruce Ralston called it a sa国际传媒渇antastic, great, wonderful announcement.

sa国际传媒淭his is such a big day, one that will be of critical importance to our community,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淪urrey is growing, everyone knows that, it never stops. You just look up King George and see the towers sprouting up there sa国际传媒� the landscape changes every month. And with growth comes the need for services, more services, particularly health care.sa国际传媒�

Dr. Marietta Van Den Berg, SMHsa国际传媒檚 medical director, noted that during the presser one if not two babies had been born there. sa国际传媒淲e honestly should be ringing a bell every time this happens.sa国际传媒� On average 15 babies are born at SMH every 24 hours, she said.

sa国际传媒淲hile these projects are exciting and hopeful, they will take time,sa国际传媒� she noted. sa国际传媒淭his means that wesa国际传媒檒l also will have long waits in our emergency department and we still will have hallway beds, for a while. I want to assure you that nobody in this hospital wishes to provide that kind of care. We do our best, despite that. What we want is a right-sized and right-sourced Surrey.sa国际传媒�