BACKGROUNDER 

Fact File: Why Surrey Needs a Children’s Hospital

Announcement overview

  • A Conservative government will build a new Children’s Hospital in Surrey.
  • The hospital will include a pediatric ER, maternity ward and women’s health centre, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). 
  • The hospital will be operated by the Provincial Health Services Authority and will be located at 164 St. and Fraser Hwy., a short walk from future SkyTrain service.

 

The need for a Children’s Hospital in Surrey:

  • 45% of all children in BC live in the Fraser Health Authority area.
  • Pediatric healthcare is severely lacking south of the Fraser.
  • The BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH) in Vancouver provides world-class pediatric healthcare, and will continue to do so. 
  • BC’s population has more than doubled since 1977 when construction started on BCCH, and Surrey’s population has increased by over 500%. It’s time for an additional children’s hospital in BC.
  • The Surrey Memorial pediatric ER treats approx. 50,000 children per year, but was designed to treat 20,000 patients total per year. The volume of visits increases by 8 -10% per year, every year.

 

Capacity

  • The Surrey Memorial pediatric ER has only 12 beds.
  • All critically ill children south of the Fraser need to be transferred out of Fraser Health to BCCH because the Fraser Health area has no Pediatric ICU beds (PICU). Any child that needs a ventilator, serious trauma care, or critical illness must be transferred out of the region.
  • 900-1000 children per year, or approximately 2.5 per day, have to endure a risky transfer from the Fraser Health area to the City of Vancouver.
  • At any given time, 50% of patients in the pediatric ICU (PICU) at BCCH are from Fraser Health – due to zero capacity south of the Fraser.

 

Risk of Transfer

  • The 1st hour of care is the most critical for patient survival and recovery.
  • Transfer time results in poorer outcomes and deaths. All transfers require a specialized critical care transport team. If they are busy, children and families have to wait. 
  • Other delays are bed capacity at BCCH, and traffic when crossing the region. 

 

Women's Health

  • Every day, the equivalent of a full kindergarten class is born at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
  • Surrey mothers delivered 6,010 babies in 2021, and this is increasing by approximately 5% per year. 
  • Surrey Memorial only has capacity to delivery 5000 babies per year, meaning over 1000 pregnant mothers get diverted to other hospitals.
  • Most newborns requiring critical care have to be transferred to BC Children’s Hospital.
  • This crisis will get markedly worse as Surrey population grows to 1 million residents. 

 

Location

  • 18-acre, city-owned site at Fraser Hwy and 164 St.
  • Located a short walk to the future Bakerview SkyTrain station and adjacent Surrey Rec Centre.
  • Convenient access for residents of Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and BC’s interior,  who will no longer need to cross the entirety of Metro Vancouver for access to a children’s hospital.