The $237-million Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre was officially opened today - on time and on budget - making it the first of its kind in British Columbia to provide additional health-care capacity for families and communities across the region.

What makes the Outpatient Centre unique is that it offers day surgery, diagnostic procedures such as lab, X-ray, CT and MRI scans, and biopsies, and specialized health programs, all within one building. Outpatients are those who receive scheduled medical care and do not require an overnight stay in the hospital. Programs and services begin operation over a three-week period beginning June 1, 2011, with full operation commencing June 14, 2011.

Jim Pattison donated $5 million towards the new Outpatient Centre to help raise funds for additional equipment to attract leading physicians to Surrey. The community matched his gift through donations to the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation's 100 Days to Give campaign, which concludes May 31, 2011.

Designed to improve the patient experience for outpatients, many programs and services are moving over from Surrey Memorial Hospital to help relieve congestion.

Some of these innovative steps include express check-in kiosks that patients with scheduled appointments can check in at upon arrival. The kiosks, which will be used throughout the centre, confirm the patients' arrival and provide them with directions on where to proceed, while alerting the clinic to prepare for the patient, creating workflow efficiencies. The kiosks are available in English and Punjabi, with more languages to come.

The Outpatient Centre will deliver a number of new services not currently available in Fraser Health, such as:

• A breast health clinic that will diagnose suspected breast cancer in 21 days or less.
• Urology services, including extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy to non-invasively treat kidney stones and other stones in the gallbladder and liver, previously only available in Vancouver.
• The first comprehensive HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C clinic in the Fraser Valley.
• An anticoagulation management clinic that offers a new care model to improve medication management for patients at risk for blood clots.

The Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre is a public-private partnership between Fraser Health and BC Healthcare Solutions (BCHS). BCHS is responsible for the design, building, financing and maintenance of the facility. Fraser Health will retain ownership of the facility and provide all health and medical services.

Funding for capital projects provided by the Province is in addition to more than $2 billion provided to Fraser Health by the Province each year to meet the health-care needs in the region's rapidly-growing communities. In addition, construction has begun on a new emergency department and critical care tower for Surrey Memorial Hospital. The emergency department is expected to open in 2013, with the tower component anticipated to open in 2014.

Over the next three years, British Columbia's health-care system will benefit from investments such as new medical equipment and modernized health facilities as part of a $1.9-billion health sector capital plan.

Fraser Health provides a wide range of integrated health services to the largest and fastest growing population in B.C. The health authority is committed to improving the health of the population and the quality of life of more than 1.5 million people living in communities from Burnaby to White Rock to Hope.

Media contacts:

Ryan Jabs
Media Relations Manager
Ministry of Health
250 952-1889 (media line)

Fraser Health Media Pager
604 450-7881
www.fraserhealth.ca