The province announced Thursday it has approved the business plan for a new tower at University Hospital of Northern B.C. that will bring acute cardiac care to Prince George.
Construction of the 11-storey building, to be built southeast of the existing hospital on land now occupied by the Northern Health Unit, is expected to begin in the fall of 2026.
Completion of the $1.579-billion project, which will have a surgical suite that will include five operating rooms and 47 new beds, is projected for the summer of 2031.
The six-bed cardiac care unit will centralize the hospital’s cardiac services and will feature a 20-bed cardiac step-down unit. Once operational, it will provide relief for patients and their families who are now required to travel to Kelowna, Vancouver or Victoria to receive intensive cardiac care.
The new tower will add 36 treatment beds for UHNBC’s mental health and substance use services, bringing the total capacity to 83.
The addition will boost overall hospital capacity for cardiac, mental health and surgical services by 109 beds, from 102 to 211.
Health Minster Adrian Dix made the announcement Thursday at noon, acknowledging the need for a new tower to replace the cramped and outdated main hospital structure that was built in 1958. He cited a projected 20-year increase in the population of the Northern Health coverage area from 309,000 to 380,000 by 2044.
“The number of people over 70 in the Northern Health Authority is going to increase at a vastly faster rate, from 32,500 to 62,000 over the next 20 years,” said Dix.
“And you know and I know that as we get older the demand for health services increases and it’s happening all over B.C. and especially here. I believe Prince George and Mackenzie and the entire region deserve to have the best hospital in northern British Columbia.
“That’s what this project is about, the highest quality, the best level of service, and it will be. We need that to recruit people, we need that because the people of the north deserve that. We need to add care in the north to ensure that fewer people in the north have to travel for care and we need better care for the people getting care now.”
Dix said the work has already begun on the expansion, with construction of a new 471-space parkade underway on Lethbridge Street next to the BC Cancer Centre for the North, where the announcement was made.
The estimated cost of the early works of project, including the parkade construction, relocation of services from the Northern Health Unit and and demolishing the Northern Health Unit building, is $103.2 million.
The cost of the new tower will be split between the province, Northern Health and the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George (RDFFG). The regional district is expected to provide $365 million of the total – $46 million for early-works preparation and $319 million for tower construction.
“It is a lot of money but it is worth it,” said Dix. “This is a lynchpin hospital and the entire region needs it.”
The project will now advance to the procurement stage.
Dix introduced Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson, chair of the Fraser-Fort George Regional Hospital District, who told the crowd she was responsible for a model proposal that has helped transform the province’s ambulance service to enhance prehospital care, especially in rural and remote areas.
Atkinson says she anxiously awaits completion of the Prince George hospital expansion which will enhance medical care for the entire northern half of the province.
“As we are aware, the provision of healthcare services in the north does have limitations, but with today’s announcement, long identified service gaps will be addressed and northerners will have the access to advanced healthcare closer to home,” said Atkinson.
“The Fraser-Fort George Regional Hospital board is very honoured to be partnered with Northern Health and the Ministry of Health on this exciting project. Although we’ve had some challenging meeting and discussions I am very grateful we were able to come to an agreement that works for all of us. The hospital board knew this day was coming and we have been planning for the required financial contribution to this project for many years.”
The new tower at UHNBC was first announced by Dix on Sept. 20, 2020, the day before the NDP government dropped the writ on the October provincial election.
Dr. Firas Mansour, the Prince George medical director and medical lead for the cardiac program at UHNBC, says the new tower and the enhancements and staff expertise it will attract will provided a needed boost to a hospital that serves as the referral centre for all of the people on northern B.C.
“As Prince George medical director and a physician I’ve seen firsthand the struggles we face to provide the highest healthcare close to home and I’m very pleased to see this work is underway,” said Mansour.
“Since I started working here in Prince George and northern B.C. 20 years ago I’ve seen countless number of patients who had to travel long distances, outside of Prince George and outside of B.C., for cardiac care and they often ask me why we don’t have the same facilities in the north. Although I never lost hope that we would have a cardiac centre in the north, I can say now in confidence that this will be a reality soon. This new tower won’t just benefit our patients, it will also provide our colleagues and all healthcare professionals with a new and modern environment to work in and ensure that we can provide the best care for everyone who would walk through those doors.”
