Health Minister Adrian Dix was in Surrey Tuesday (June 25) to give a status report on the “30 promised health-care actions” he announced in June 2023.
Last June, Dix announced that the province had identified short-term, long-term and medium-term strategies to improve care at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
"There has been progress on every single one of that 30-point plan," Dix said Tuesday.
Fourteen of the actions have been completed, with progress made on the remaining 16.
One key area of concern raised by health-care workers at Surrey Memorial Hospital last spring was around the human resource challenges. Since July 2023, 414 new job positions at Surrey Memorial Hospital and Surrey communities have been posted. Of those, 293 new positions have been filled by health-care providers, including 23 of 27 pediatric emergency positions. Four associate physicians, two nurse practitioners specializing in internal medicine, and four internists were also hired.
In addition, five internal medicine residents will start their residency at the Surrey Memorial Clinical Teaching Unit on July 1.
Dr. Victoria Lee, president and CEO of Fraser Health, said staff and medical staff play a "key role" in health care.
"I am grateful for their dedication to providing high-quality care," she said.
But critics say the new positions don't go far enough.
Surrey South MLA Elenore Sturko, who will be vying for the Surrey-Cloverdale seat with the B.C. Conservatives this October, said Surrey is "quite under-resourced" compared to Vancouver.
"We have very close to being near the same population, and yet we have far less than half the acute care spaces here in Surrey," Sturko said.
"It's a good start to have these additional health-care workers. I think that's a very positive thing and, and certainly we're happy, of course, to see resources being added, but no, I don't think it's enough and I think that they've waited for far too long."
At a press conference in March, Dix said that progress was being made on the pre-construction of a new renal unit at Surrey Memorial. Eby announced at a press conference at the hospital last Tuesday (June 18) that the business plan has been approved for the new renal unit, and construction is set to begin in August 2024.
Sturko characterized that announcement as a "reannouncement."
"I suspect we're going to see a lot more of these types of NDP media availabilities, which are essentially, campaign stops," she said.
"I'm always happy to see more resources coming to Surrey and, of course, coming to the Fraser Health region; it's really important," Sturko said. "But I think the fact that we see that they're in the very end of their mandate in government trying to scramble and fill hundreds of health-care jobs here in Surrey, really actually speaks to the amount that they under-resourced Surrey over the last eight years."
The new standalone renal hemodialysis facility will be located on the northwestern corner of the Surrey Memorial Hospital campus.
Among the key updates announced by Dix at this week's press conference:
• 302 new patients have been referred to community respiratory services and 123 to the lung health clinic.
• The wound care clinic is taking 36 new appointments each week.
• Renovations for the new birthing unit are expected to be completed on time, by June 30, and the unit will increase capacity from six to 10 beds.
• The tertiary neonatal intensive care unit has four more beds, bringing the total to 36.
• Progress is underway for a new MRI and CT scanner that will have cardiac capabilities, notes a release from the Ministry of Health Tuesday (June 25).
• A gynecology 'Out of Operating Room Procedural Sedation Program' has been added.
Dix said he would be back in the coming months to provide another update on the actions. You can see the full list of 30 priority actions at the Fraser Health website.
