A new vision for Delta Hospital is moving closer to completion.
Fraser Health launched a major planning initiative this spring called a master site plan, aimed at mapping what services the Ladner hospital should provide and what building additions may have to be made.
FHA spokesperson Roy Thorpe-Forward told the Optimist last week that a master plan working group, which includes representatives from the Corporation of Delta, Delta Hospital Foundation, Delta Hospice Society, Delta Chamber of Commerce and several community members, held a meeting recently to go over several recommendations. Fraser Health is now reviewing them with an architect and urban planner. A draft plan is expected to be completed in early July, he said.
"Once we have that draft plan, it will go back to the steering committee and then, barring any major changes, the draft plan will then be presented to the clinical group at Delta Hospital and then the boarder community in the early fall," explained Thorpe-Forward.
"The details of how it will be presented to the community will likely be organized through the (hospital) foundation," he added.
The health region wants to address the lack of pay parking as part of the new master site plan, however, Delta imposed a bylaw prohibiting pay parking at the facility.
At a public meeting last fall, Fraser Health CEO Dr. Nigel Murray pointed out Delta is the only community in the region not to allow pay parking at its hospital, resulting in an estimated revenue loss of $440,000.
Murray mentioned he's hoping both sides can find "mutually agreeable solutions."
At an information session at the hospital to announce the initiative, health authority officials and consultants explained the purpose of the planning exercise and how the process would unfold.
Noting the initiative will help business cases for possible future expansions of facilities and services, Marco Buccini, Fraser Health's executive director of capital planning, said what's needed is a clear vision for how the hospital fits with the rest of the health care system. He noted that an expansion of the diagnostic imaging department is one of the possibilities when it comes to future projects.
Pointing out the major roles already played by the Delta Hospital Foundation and the auxiliary, project leader Andre Kroeger explained work sessions and stakeholder meetings would be held.
Senior clinical planner Mary Rhode, noting there's a possibility a community health care centre could be located at the site, said some services now here could end up moving elsewhere, leaving space available for other services to move to Delta.
She also mentioned Delta's emergency ward visits, which had gone up to around 28,000 for the 2009/10 year, higher than expected.
