Patient safety will be carefully maintained throughout the move of Fraser Health’s regional tertiary (Level III) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit program from Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) to Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH).

“Fraser Health and clinical and physician leaders at both RCH and SMH and with the Provincial Perinatal Network remain committed to a successful transition and to ensuring patient safety is maintained at all times,” said Dr. Nigel Murray, President and CEO of Fraser Health. “As physicians and health care professionals, our primary commitment is to support quality care and patient safety for babies and their mothers.”

Fraser Health successfully moved an entire hospital, including a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, with the replacement of MSA Hospital with the opening of the new Abbotsford Regional Hospital. Dr. Murray also noted that the project liaises with provincial specialists and has mechanisms in place to collaboratively address any patient safety concerns that may be identified by physicians and other health professionals.

“Physicians from the Provincial Perinatal Network have been working with Fraser Health and its physicians for several years to expand and sustain the specialized care required for the growing number of high-risk newborns and their mothers. We continue to be active participants in their project to transition NICU Level III to SMH. Ensuring patient safety is the paramount concern of the comprehensive planning that is being implemented,” said Dr. Jan Christilaw, President of BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre.

The decision to locate a regional Level III program at SMH is well supported by extensive clinical planning for perinatal services at the regional and provincial levels. It is well acknowledged that staff and physicians at RCH are recognized as providing excellent care for high-risk newborns and their mothers. However, it is uncommon to locate tertiary maternal/child and trauma services in the same hospital, as at RCH, and there is opportunity to link regional maternity services with the regional pediatric services at SMH. The move represents a step towards building the regional referral centre for the care of critically ill newborns and their mothers at SMH. The move will build the infrastructure and program supports for the new state-of-the-art, single-room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that will begin construction in 2010 as part of a new Critical Care Tower at SMH. When opened, the new tower will expand SMH’s NICU from 32 to 48 bassinets.

“Fraser Health is excited to have this fantastic opportunity to build new, larger and more state-of-the-art environments for our care providers and patients,” said Dr. Murray. “Our absolute commitment is to patient safety and the new, larger program in new, contemporary facilities will support continued improvement of our already high standards for care and patient outcomes.”

A RCH physician did state to media on January 30 that the move would occur in a single day on February 1, 2010. That information is outdated. The transition of NICU Level III to SMH will now occur gradually over the next two months. A single-day complete move of the program was originally planned, in consultation with physicians at both sites.  As part of its final readiness assessments, Fraser Health consulted with the provincial perinatal network and physicians working on the project and the move date was pushed back slightly to permit modification of the transition plan to a gradual opening and finalize some elements of physician coverage and compensation.

Beginning February 15, additional NICU Level III beds will begin opening up at SMH to accept new patients. Through February and March, as patients are discharged from RCH, beds at RCH will close and resources shifted to SMH. Patients being cared for in the RCH NICU are not expected to change sites as part of the transition.

Nurses and physicians such as neonatalogists have already been recruited to operate Level III NICU at SMH. 

More information about the SMH Critical Care Tower and other redevelopment activities, including at RCH, is available on the Fraser Health website at: www.fraserhealth.ca

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