Health
VICTORIA - Health Minister Terry Lake has issued the following statement on the redevelopment plan for St. Paul’s Hospital:
“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.”
Media Contacts:
Laura Heinze
Media Relations Manager
Ministry of Health
250 952-1887 (media line)
