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Your B.C. Government

For Patients

Your B.C. Government is working to build and expand hospitals, shorten surgery waitlists and improve health care services in all regions to ensure patients have the best health care possible.

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Cancer CareEarly Childhood CareExpanded Services for PatientsHealth Authority: FraserHealth Authority: InteriorHealth Authority: NorthernHealth Authority: Vancouver CoastalHealth Authority: Vancouver IslandHealth Authority: Provincial Health ServicesHealth-Care ProfessionalsHealthy Living and Disease PreventionInnovation in Health CareMental Health and AddictionsNew and Expanded HospitalsPharmacare and Medical Services Plan Premium AssistanceSeniors' Care BedsWait ListsWait ListsYour Voice 

What your B.C. Government is doing for Patients:

  • $100 million approved for the Northern Cancer Control Strategy, including a new Regional Cancer Centre in Prince George.
  • Currently, the Province makes a significant investment of more than $525 million each year for services for children and youth with significant special needs and their families. Added 155 per cent more MRI machines since 2001 and expect to increase the number of MRI procedures by 170 per cent.
  • Acquired 19 new CT scanners, bringing the total province wide to 50. Health Authorities performed 458,000 CT scans this year – an 90 per cent increase over 2001.
  • Your B.C. Government has invested almost $200 million since 2001 to help recruit, train and retain nurses.
  • The Province has increased by 150 per cent the number of community addiction beds since 2003, for a total of almost 2,200 today.
  • Here are the facts on capital investment in health care by the Government of British Columbia. Since 2001, the province, regional hospital districts and foundations have spent more than $5 billion on health care capital projects across British Columbia. In the next three years a further $2.85 billion will be spent on capital projects.
  • Opened B.C.’s first new Regional Hospital in three decades in Abbotsford – the $475-million Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre.
  • Building the new Surrey Outpatient Hospital, which will take 450,000 outpatient visits each year. Construction began in the fall 2008.
  • Announced a new critical care tower and emergency room at Surrey Memorial Hospital, with construction set to begin in 2010.
  • Construction has begun on the new 500-bed Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria.
  • Under the Fair PharmaCare program, the vast majority of British Columbians pay the same or less for their prescription drugs than in 2001. More than 300,000 families received more support than they did prior to Fair Pharmacare.
  • Your B.C. Government has created a ministry dedicated to preventative health: Healthy Living and Sport.
  • The Province also created ActNowBC, a nationally recognized program for promoting healthy living and chronic disease prevention.
  • The Province has built over 13,000 new or replacement beds for residential care, supportive housing and assisted living since 2001. This number includes over 6,000 net new beds and units.
  • Wait times to access residential care have decreased from up to one year in 2001 to an average of 15-90 days today.
  • Wait times for hip and knee replacements have been shortened by approximately two months compared to 2001.
  • 55 per cent more angioplasty heart procedures are now being performed compared to 2001.
  • British Columbia was the first jurisdiction in Canada to approve the use of the drug Herceptin to treat women with breast cancer (2005).
  • In 2007, the Province began funding for Caelyx, a chemotherapy drug for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in women where standard therapy has failed.
Record Investments in Health Care 

Your Tax Dollars

Health Link B.C.

Screening Mammography Program of British Columbia

B.C.'s Alzheimer's Drug Therapy Initiative

NO 2 Meth

Healthy Kids Program

Personal Supports