PEOPLE in White Rock and south Surrey will have better access to emergency and surgical services as construction ends on expansion work at Peace Arch Hospital.

“The White Rock and south Surrey area is growing fast and, with that, comes more demand for health-care services,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, on Friday. “Our government recognized this and took fast action to help people in this region by moving forward with a bigger emergency department and surgical suite at Peace Arch Hospital.”

The expanded emergency department more than doubles in size with the number of treatment spaces increasing to 50 from 24, and will include dedicated space for children and families.

A new surgical suite above the emergency department has an additional two operating rooms, going from three to five. The medical device reprocessing department has been expanded and moved closer to the surgical suite.

Redeveloping these areas will improve overall efficiency by providing direct links between emergency, surgery and the sterilization of surgical tools.

The medical device reprocessing department was fully operational on January 8, 2022, and the new surgical suite on January 10. The newly renovated and expanded emergency department opened to patients on January 11. Since opening, there have been 941 visits to the new emergency department between January 11 and 16.

Renovations continue to parts of the former emergency department to accommodate a new dedicated mental-health and substance-use unit that is expected to be complete in summer 2022.

In late 2020, government approved a project cost increase of $7.37 million in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to include three anterooms in the project.

The Province, through Fraser Health, is providing $52.55 million and the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation is providing $38.5 million, for an updated total project cost of $91.05 million.

The South Surrey-White Rock region has a population of approximately 109,000 (as of 2016) and is expected to have approximately 131,000 by 2030.

Peace Arch Hospital opened in 1954 and has 171 beds. The hospital offers emergency surgery, critical care, maternity, inpatient mental-health and substance-use services, inpatient rehabilitation services, laboratory services, outpatient services, ambulatory care and a hospice.