Improved access to life-saving health care is on the way to downtown Vancouver with the approval of the business plan for a new St. Paul’s Hospital.
“For over 125 years, people in Vancouver and across British Columbia have benefitetd from the health care provided by St. Paul’s Hospital,” said Premier John Horgan on February 15th, 2019. “Today, we are safeguarding these life-saving services by taking action to build a brand-new St. Paul’s Hospital that will serve more people and offer better access to the specialized care people need.”
Doors of the new $1.9-billion St. Paul’s are expected to open in 2026 and will be located at 1002 Station St.
“British Columbians have always expressed great confidence, and taken great comfort, in the care delivered by St. Paul’s. After more than a decade and a half of stalling, it is exciting to give the green light to a new, state-of-the-art St. Paul’s Hospital that will continue this legacy for many years to come,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “Our government has made it a priority to see this project move forward, so that St. Paul’s continues to serve people around the province now and in the future.”
The new St. Paul’s will continue to serve the people of Vancouver and all of B.C. as an internationally renowned, full-service, acute-care hospital and integrated health campus. It will have capacity for up to 548 beds, which includes 115 net new beds. The site will be the home of several leading provincial programs and referral centres, including for heart and lung care, renal, eating disorders and specialty surgeries and transplants.
“The new St. Paul’s at the Jim Pattison Medical Centre will establish a new standard for health care and for community building,” says Mary Ackenhusen, President and CEO, Vancouver Coastal Health. The site offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a hospital that’s purpose built to put people first. A world-class facility for the 21st century that remains true to the core philosophies of compassion, social justice and innovation. It’s a place where the best and brightest will work together to heal the sick, collaborate on new discoveries and mentor the next generation of health-care providers. It’s truly so much more than a hospital — it’s the beginning of a new era in health care for British Columbians.”
The hospital will also offer a diverse and long list of general and specialized care, including HIV/AIDS, chronic disease management services, emergency and critical care, mental health and addictions beds and programs, ambulatory services and outpatient clinics, end-of-life care, Indigenous health, maternity, colorectal and gastrointestinal services, and community care and community outreach programs.
St. Paul’s will continue to be a teaching hospital, training hundreds of University of British Columbia medical students, British Columbia Institute of Technology nursing students and hundreds of other health-sector professions. Integration of care, teaching and research — with emphasis on new knowledge rapidly translated into patient care solutions — will continue to be the focus of its research centres and specialized programs.
The project will be delivered using a design-build finance procurement model and will be cost shared between the provincial government and Providence Health Care. St. Paul’s Foundation campaign fundraising goal for Providence Health Care is anticipated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with a portion allocated to the new core hospital. Jim Pattison, chairman and CEO of the Jim Pattison Group, has already donated $75 million to the future of St. Paul’s, a historic contribution in Canadian health-care philanthropy. The current St. Paul’s Hospital land at 1081 Burrard St. will be sold, with funds going towards the project.
To learn more about the new St. Paul’s Hospital, visit: http://thenewstpauls.ca/
