The province announced plans Thursday for a new patient care tower that will enhance surgical and cardiac services at University Hospital of Northern B.C. and expand mental health and substance use treatment.
Earmarked for a site next to the existing hospital on land now occupied by the Northern Health Unit, the 11-storey building will cost $1.579 billion and is slated for construction to begin in the fall of 2026, aiming for completion by the summer of 2031.
The long-awaited business plan approval announcement made by Health Minister Adrian Dix revealed details of what will be included in the design to replace the aging hospital and also highlighted what it will apparently not bring to UHNBC – a rooftop helipad.
“We are looking at all the options there, which don’t necessarily include a rooftop option,” said Dix. “We would hope to formulate them soon. There are other options to bring a helicopter to the hospital. There are challenges with this space and we want to address the issues without creating those challenges with proceeding with the hospital. We’re focused on how to deliver better services and how to bring helicopter service closer and that just does not necessarily involve a rooftop approach.”
Prince George is the only major B.C. city that lacks the ability to land a medevaced patient at the hospital because there is no on-site helipad.
The dedicated medical helicopter operated and staffed by B.C. Emergency Health Services since December 2020 is based at the airport. All patients brought to the city on helicopters land at YXS and are then transported by ground ambulance to the UHNBC. On a good day, that ambulance ride from the airport to the hospital takes at least 20 minutes. A rooftop pad would eliminate the need for a ground ambulance.
“I agree, 20 minutes is too long and we’re going to take steps to address it,” said Dix. “There are options that are not rooftop options that will effectively provide the same thing. If you can deliver something five minutes away, well that’s a big difference.”
In a Jan. 29 Citizen story, emergency physician Ian Schokking, who heads the trauma team at UHNBC, said the exclusion of the rooftop helipad is a cost-cutting measure and is inexcusable because it will reduce the odds of survival for critically injured and morbidly ill patients with time-sensitive conditions. He also said patients delayed in receiving definitive treatment require longer hospital stays and more recovery time which costs the medical system more.
“It’s a million dollars and it’s ridiculous to not do it, it’s wrong,” said Schokking. “It probably saves 20 and sometimes even 30 minutes in the trajectory of a person who has a life-threatening injury when they come by helicopter. It would give at least half an hour earlier care to our sickest patients.
“Time is mortality. Your prognosis is totally dependent on how quickly you get the definitive treatment. You get there late to the party and the party’s almost over.”
Operated by Northern Health Authority, UHNBC is the referring hospital for the region, serving a population of 309,000 people in the northern half of the province.
Prince George Mayor Simon Yu, who attended the announcement in front of a new hospital parking lot under construction next to the BC Cancer Centre for the North, was disappointed there was no mention of a helipad in the building plan but vows he will continue to push for it.
“The short distance really means the difference between life and death, in a lot of cases,” said Yu. “I have assurance this thing is not over, we will look at it again. It’s not part of the key construction plan right at this moment, but I’m an engineer. The design can change.”
