The Surrey Outpatient Hospital now under construction in Green Timbers Park will be unique in B.C. and western Canada when it opens in 2011.

The $239-million facility will be the first-ever hospital built in the province strictly for day surgery and other outpatient services that can be performed without an overnight stay.

It’s notable because it will combine day surgery with other services like diagnostics and various clinics in the same building.

The five-level 17,500-square-metre complex, at the corner of 140 Street and the Fraser Highway, will allow most day surgery and a variety of other services to shift out of nearby Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH), freeing up room there and reducing congestion significantly.

“This is a facility that is going to have 450,000 outpatient visits a year,” says health minister Kevin Falcon. “That means 450,000 less people going to Surrey Memorial Hospital.”

Day surgery has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years as more advanced minimally invasive medical procedures are possible with tiny incisions and remote-controlled equipment.

It’s those types of procedures the outpatient hospital will specialize in.

Less cutting and carving means less time needed to heal, fewer complications and less time and money burned up in hospital beds.

Doctors and nurses will work out of six operating rooms and 10 procedure rooms in the new building.

Besides surgeries, an estimated 134,000 clinic visits per year now conducted at SMH will also shift to the outpatient hospital, plus 94,000 diagnostic procedures.

The second-level diagnostic imaging department will perform CT and MRI scans, X-rays, ultrasound scans, mammography and other diagnostics.

Fraser Health officials say it will be a state-of-the-art facility that will revolutionize how health care is practised in Surrey.

“We’re looking at new and creative ways of doing things,” says Lisa Chiu, director of clinical program development for the outpatient hospital.

Unlike a typical hospital, the new facility won’t take ambulances and there’s no emergency department.

“It’s not meant for overnight stays or urgent cases,” Chiu explains.

Several new services will be offered.

The complex will be home to the Fraser Valley’s first comprehensive full-time program for patients with HIV, AIDS or Hepatitis C – many of those patients now have to go to St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver for a similar level of service.

A new breast health program based on the successful Eusoma model that’s credited with vastly accelerating cancer diagnoses will be offered here for the first time outside of Europe.

A urology clinic for patients with kidney stones or prostate problems will for the first time bring lithotrispy treatment to Fraser Health, allowing non-invasive treatment of kidney stones and other stones in the gallbladder and liver.

There will also be space for family doctors, making it easier for them to treat and monitor so-called orphan patients at the outpatient hospital who don’t have a regular family doctor.

Clustering many services close together is expected to also result in faster diagnosis, quicker turnaround times for lab tests, reduced wait times and better health results.

“It’s going to be a new way of doing business in health,” Chiu said.

In some ways, a trip to the Surrey Outpatient Hospital will be a little like going to the airport.

Arriving patients may use 13 self-registration kiosks akin to airport self check-in terminals – a system that’s expected to speed up processing.

The building also boasts green credentials. It’s being constructed to a LEED gold standard. And the 600-stall parking area – three and a half levels of underground and the rest at ground level – will include plug-ins for electric cars.

Patients and staff alike will also find it an airy facility, with lots of natural light coming through large windows with views of Green Timbers Park.

Dedicated green space will surround the building and offer access to gardens, featuring 120 trees of different species from across B.C.

Amenities include a retail food area and pharmacy on the main floor and a non-denominational sacred space for reflection and worship.

Construction began in the summer of 2008. A ceremony was held in October to mark the completion of the roof and a time capsule was filled with artifacts and documents and placed in a wall to be opened in 2041.

The scheduled completion date is March 2011, but the hospital isn’t expected to open until the summer of 2011.

New Democrats accuse the government of dragging their feet on the project.

Originally promised in the 2005 election campaign, the outpatient hospital was to have opened this year.

That target opening date was pushed back when the decision was made to build the outpatient hospital 30 per cent bigger than initially envisioned.

The hospital is being built as a public-private partnership by BC Healthcare Solutions.

The consortium, led by a French firm, must design, build, finance and maintain the hospital for 30 years. It takes on all risks and responsibility for any cost overruns.

Fraser Health will make monthly payments, which are reduced if performance standards aren’t met.

Fraser Health retains ownership of the land and building, and covers the costs of the health services provided within.

The outpatient hospital is also being designed for future expansion.

There will be one MRI machine in the new building but space is already earmarked to add another one when it’s needed, according to chief project officer Barry Pearce.

The building is configured to easily move walls to reconfigure services as needed.

And if the growing Surrey population quickly fills the outpatient hospital to capacity?

Planners are ready to expand the complex sideways to add 30 per cent more space if necessary, without any disruption to operations.

Outpatient hospital statistics:

• Cost – $239 million.

• Size –188,347 square feet.

• Facilities – Six operating rooms,10 procedure rooms.

Construction facts:

• 4,000 cubic metres of soil excavated for the foundation.

• 17,000 cubic metres of concrete poured, enough to fill seven Olympic swimming pools.

• 200 tonnes of structural steel used.

• 2,200 tonnes of recycled pine beetle wood used.

New services offered:

• Breast Health based on European Eusoma model.

• Urology, including new services for non-invasive treatment of kidney stones.

• HIV/AIDs/Hepatitis C – first comprehensive program in Fraser Health.

What's inside:

• Level 4

Surgical Services

Orthopedics

Gynecology

Minor General Surgery

Plastics

Ear, Nose and Throat

Urology (including Lithotripsy)

Ambulatory Day Care

Endoscopy

Cystoscopy

Colposcopy

Minor Procedures

Sterile Processing

• Level 3

Perinatal Clinics

AntepartumCare at Home Program

Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy

Outpatient Fetal Monitoring

Diabetes in Pregnancy

Surrey Prenatal Clinic

Maternal Fetal Medicine

Community Care

Chronic Disease Management

Enhanced Family Practice

HIV / AIDS / Hepatitis C

Seniors Clinic

Chronic Pain

Medical/Surgical Clinics

Neurology

Pre-admission

Renal Vascular Access

Urology

• Level 2

Diagnostic Imaging

General Radiography

Screening and Diagnostic

Mammography

Ultrasound

MRI and CT Scans

Nuclear Medicine

Interventional Radiology

Diagnostic Cardiology

Bone Densitometry

Fluoroscopy

Medical/Surgical Clinics

Cast/Orthopedics

Plastics

Breast Health

• Level 1

Medical Day Care

Outpatient Antibiotic Therapy

Home IV Therapy

Transfusion Clinic

Phlebotomy

Portacath

Other infusions

Anticoagulant Management

Laboratory

Pharmacy

Respiratory Diagnostics

• Entry

Education/Resource Centre

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