Kent Spencer
Province
A decision has been made to move St. Paul’s Hospital to the False Creek Flats, concerned West End residents charged yesterday.
Claiming to have “new information”, Aaron Jasper of the Save St. Paul’s Coalition said the hospital has made a business case for the move to Station and Prior streets.
“According to our information, they will move the hospital out of downtown to False Creek. The only thing left at St. Paul’s will be the bricked Burrard building,” Jasper told The Province before speaking at a public forum.
“There will be no acute care or surgery. Two-thirds of the site will be sold off to fund the new building and what’s left will offer things like services to drug addicts.
“There will be public consultation but it will be a sham — a sales pitch. We think it’s all about real estate,” said Jasper.
He said the new hospital would take over surgical operations currently done at St. Paul’s. Many West End residents are keen to keep the hospital in their community.
Jasper said the move could go to the provincial government for approval as early as next fall. The hospital would be moved by 2014.
But hospital spokesman Shaf Hussain called Jasper’s information “blatantly false.”
“No decision has been made. The business case will not be forwarded to the province until a complete consultation process has taken place,” he said.
St. Paul’s Hospital is run by a Catholic non-profit agency. It has been operating for more than a century.
Hussain said St. Paul’s vision is for a “brand-new research and hospital facility” on the False Creek flats. He said the West End site would continue to be a clinic.
But he differed on whether the move was a sure thing.
“The ministry will decide what to do. It will involve hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said.
