Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan's hope for a new city hospital is more than just a pipe dream.
The mayor announced at his state of the city address on April 11 that he is pushing for a new Burnaby Hospital, which he would like to see located at Canada Way and Willingdon Avenue, on the site of the former provincial youth detention centre.
Fraser Health is beginning a master site concept planning process for Burnaby General Hospital, according to Cathie Heritage, executive director of the hospital.
"I would be most supportive of an upgrade of our facilities," she said Monday. "I would very much hope in the future that would be a reality for us, to have a new site."
Fraser Health has been in talks with the City of Burnaby and the Burnaby Hospital Foundation, according to Heritage, with the planning process running from now until the fall.
But the process is in the very early stages, she added, and there are no set plans for a new hospital.
The process is intended to develop short and long-term plans for expansion and improvements to health services in the city, Heritage said.
"Certainly there's recognition that as our population demographics grow and change that we need to plan in advance for how Fraser Health, the City of Burnaby and the foundation can meet the needs of the community," she said.
The foundation made a contribution to the hospital to help with the costs of the process, she added.
Fraser Health is conducting community and stake-holder consultations, to look at the hospital's current state and future needs up to 2030, according to Heritage.
"We would then look for a report that would identify short and long-term priorities for hospital improvement and future expansion," she said.
"I think it's too soon to speculate on what the recommendations of the master site planning report would be," Heritage added, regarding the possibility of a new hospital. "It would certainly be a hope of mine, along with Mayor Corrigan."
There have been improvements made to Burnaby Hospital since it opened in 1952, including the extended care wing and acute care tower added during the '70s, and the $2 million in renovations to the emergency department in 2008, Heritage pointed out.
The hospital does not yet have a long-term financial commitment from the provincial government for expanding or building a new hospital in Burnaby, she added, and the budget for such a project has not been discussed.
"We have some wonderful donors here who support Burnaby Hospital," Heritage said. "We'd be most appreciative of any support the foundation could give to us in actualizing any of these plans."
Fraser Health announced last December it was beginning its master concept planning process for Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody, when it also mentioned it was conducting planning concept exercises at Delta, Peace Arch and Burnaby hospitals.
The health authority is working to ensure that potential expansion at Eagle Ridge Hospital is connected to the redevelopment of Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, according to a press release from Fraser Health.
Royal Columbian is on a completely different scale than Burnaby, Heritage said, as the services delivered by both hospitals are quite different.
Corrigan said last Wednesday that he would prefer a new hospital be built in Burnaby, rather than expanding the current site. He would like to see it at the Canada Way and Willingdon Avenue site partially because of its proximity to the British Columbia Institute of Technology and Discovery Park, which would make the new hospital a perfect place for training and research, Corrigan said.
The location is also more central and accessible, he added.
"It's right off the highway, in the centre of everything, " he said. "It could be designed for easy access. There are a lot of positives, in my mind."
The current Burnaby Hospital hasn't had the same amount of facility improvements and investment over the years as other older hospitals such as St. Paul's and Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, and Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, Corrigan said.
The persistent outbreaks of the highly infectious bacteria Clostridium difficile at the hospital have highlighted the need for a new facility, he added.
"That's why the government is looking at capital expenditures," he said, adding fixing the old building would be impossible.
The provincial government will have to decide if retrofitting the newer building and adding to it is the way to go, or if they build an entirely new facility, Corrigan said. But Corrigan added it isn't something that would happen overnight, or even in a year or two.
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