Health Minister Terry Lake: Why St. Paul’s Hospital is leaving the West End

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      Health Minister Terry Lake has issued the following statement on the province's plan to move St. Paul's Hospital from the West End to False Creek Flats:

      "St. Paul's has served the community and British Columbia well for over a century. It is both a landmark and a symbol of health care to those in Vancouver's West End, as well as many in the Lower Mainland and throughout the province. The hospital's dedicated staff members have been at the forefront of health-care delivery, often leading the way with new models of care and research.

      "This important work and leadership will continue, as the hospital is redeveloped into a cutting-edge world-class campus of care at a new home on the Station Street site.

      "Moving this project forward was part of my mandate for this year. However, moving this project forward was not simply about checking a box to get it done. We needed to move this project forward in the right way to best meet the needs of the people the hospital serves.

      "Providence Health Care came to the ministry last fall in the context of our strategic vision and the work we were doing to look at how the Lower Mainland hospitals were working together to deliver patient care. After a serious review of the idea, we were convinced that the Station Street site would best meet the needs of the local, Lower Mainland and provincial population the hospital serves now and in the long term. We began working closely with them on this vision.

      "The new hospital and campus of care will include a full suite of services, as well as mental health beds, residential care beds, a low- risk birthing centre and community outreach programs. It will be connected to a network of community and primary care services across the entire region that more effectively provides co-ordinated and focused care to the community, ensuring people are receiving the right care in the right place.

      "Over the next year, Providence Health Care will hold public meetings to consult with the community, stakeholders and partners on the proposed plan to hear concerns and to help develop the business plan for the new hospital.

      "St. Paul's will be a catalyst for helping realize the ministry's new vision for providing innovative patient- centred acute, primary, ambulatory and community care in one place, especially for the most-vulnerable patient populations - those suffering with mental-health issues and addictions, aging British Columbians struggling with chronic illnesses and those at the end of their lives.

      "The new St. Paul's will better meet the needs of patients now and for the next 100 years. It will be a world-class hub that the people of Vancouver and all British Columbians will be proud of for years to come."

      Comments

      5 Comments

      condos for friendly developers

      Apr 13, 2015 at 11:17am

      The "real reason" to relocate St. Paul's is the "real estate" reason. There's a lot of money to be made by turning the downtown hospital into condos. Safety response times and a dense population downtown just don't matter. Look at who's funding the BCLibs and follow the money.

      Just sayin'

      Apr 13, 2015 at 11:51am

      The only people against this are people playing politics.

      About Time

      Apr 13, 2015 at 3:14pm

      This move is long overdue. Millions of dollars have been spent maintaining an aging facility that could have gone towards frontline services...although we all know most "saved" money somehow funds bureaucrats. Relocating to the False Creek Flats will allow a state of the art structure to be built to modern standards, and the money raised selling the old site will fund at least part of the cost. Hopefully there is a far-sighted developer with ties to Vision and the Liberals who will see the value in turning the old building into condos: imagine that heritage bonus. The only reason to oppose this is pure politics as a new hospital is of benefit to the region in general and the DES in particular. The city has changed folks and nobody would build a hospital today where St. Paul's is currently located.

      Hospital rooms for people

      Apr 14, 2015 at 11:53am

      You complainers can whine all you want about development and developers, but the real reason to move the hospital is for the future needs of the people of BC, both patients and taxpayers. Selling the property is an added bonus to the over taxed citizens of BC.

      onegoodsouldier

      Apr 14, 2015 at 1:09pm

      Change is a inevitable evil in progress. There are more good reasons to move St Paul's than there are to hold it back! It is an exceptional medical facility both locally, and globally. This move will be a milestone in progressive application and research providing upgraded state of the art facilities to attract the best of the best! Rather then the West End suffering a loss of services the whole city, province, country, and globe will experience a pace setting development in revolutionary medical expertise!