Surrey’s hospital delay is a big disappointment
During a healthcare crisis, the project was long overdue
The opening date of a second hospital in Surrey, located right next to the KPU Tech campus, has been delayed from 2027 to 2030, pushing back the desperately needed increase in healthcare services and accessibility. (Austin Kelly)
Sept. 12 marked a historic occasion for the City of Surrey — the groundbreaking of a second hospital in Cloverdale right next to the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Tech campus.
This hospital has been hyped up to be a “state-of-the-art smart hospital” with 168 beds, multiple operating and procedure rooms, a large medical imaging department, virtual care options, making use of smart beds along with automated and wearable technology. It will be home to a regional cancer treatment centre and service both Surrey and Langley.
Advancing healthcare infrastructure is normally a cause for celebration, however this occasion has been dampened by some prominent issues.
Construction of the facility has ballooned from its original $1.72 billion price tag to $2.88 billion due to inflation, thanks to the fact that the project was first announced in 2019. This could have been avoided or minimized had the groundbreaking happened sooner. This leads to the next big problem — Premier David Eby and Health Minister Adrian Dix have acknowledged that the opening date for the new hospital has been pushed back by three years from 2027 to 2030 with completion set for 2029.
Surrey Memorial Hospital will have to hold-out for another seven years before seeing relief. The city has been in need of a second hospital for far too long. The local population is set to surpass Vancouver’s by 2041 which makes it all the more imperative that the city’s infrastructure and services be strengthened to meet the incoming increase in demand.
All of this is underpinned by Canada’s ongoing, nation-wide healthcare crisis. The weekend prior to groundbreaking saw Surrey residents and hospital staff rally against “decades of chronic underfunding.” As it currently stands, Surrey Memorial is expected to do a lot of important work with disproportionately few resources. Consequently, provided care tends to be lacking and could be dangerously inadequate if this persists.
Indeed the Canadian healthcare system is seeing a particularly rough period. Many people recognize the top problems with our healthcare system are being under staffing, having limited treatment access, and long wait times.
The federal government’s promise to increase funding to provinces is not going to be enough to fix these numerous etched-in cracks. Experts blame the issues on a lack of accountability in a deeply decentralized delivery system. The lack of effective, national coordination, aside from regularly throwing money into the pot, means that every health authority in each province and territory does their own thing with little to no communication in between.
This makes the system more expensive than it has to be and less effective than it could be. A lot of potential is being lost due to this deficient delivery system, and if it continues long-term, we could enter a nightmare scenario — the complete functional collapse of our national healthcare system.
Surrey Memorial understands this crisis all too well. It has had to bear the brunt of Surrey’s healthcare needs by itself for far too long with no real local relief. The second hospital will solve the local problem at the very least. However, on the grander scale, a systemic change is needed to save Canadian healthcare and soon.
In the meantime, Surrey must grit its teeth and brace for a little while longer until the second hospital opens its doors. Should another delay be announced for whatever reason, the government must be prepared to face the inevitable, and completely understandable, backlash from frustrated citizens, physicians, and healthcare workers.
