The government of BC has recently announced the approval of the business plan for a new patient care tower at Penticton Regional Hospital.

The announcement was made at a local event in Penticton and also in the following news release.

The $325-million tower will include approximately 26,700 square metres (287,500 square feet) of new health-care facilities. The project will be built in two phases. Phase one will see the construction of the new tower with a new ambulatory care centre, surgical services centre, 84 medical/surgical inpatient beds in single patient rooms, a new medical device reprocessing unit, and space for the UBC Faculty of Medicine Program.

Both Penticton Regional Hospital and Vernon Jubilee Hospital are Affiliated Regional Centre sites for the UBC Faculty of Medicine.  When the new Penticton tower opens in 2019 Faculty of Medicine students, residents and staff will have access to over 4,000 square feet of Academic Space which will include video conference and clinical skills rooms; study, lounge and on-call areas and administrative space for program delivery.

Phase two will involve the renovation of vacated areas in the current hospital to allow the expansion of the emergency department into a space almost four times the size of the current department, as well as renovations to existing support areas of pharmacy, laundry, and materiel (supplies and equipment) stores.