The regional health authorities and Riverview Hospital have been working collaboratively to finalize plans to complete the Riverview Redevelopment Project and the transfer of the remaining patients and beds to the health authorities. The final health authority facilities and completion dates were confirmed in February in a news release from the Ministry of Health Services.

With the locations and target completion dates now in place, Riverview Hospital is working with the health authorities to implement a patient transfer and closure plan for the hospital. If the target dates in the project plan are achieved, all patient care and non-patient care services currently operating at Riverview Hospital will be transferred or discontinued by July 1, 2012.

As the plan moves forward, the hospital services on the Riverview site will be reduced in step with the transfer of the patients. The role of Riverview Hospital is to share clinical expertise with the regional health authorities and provide support for the transfer process while maintaining high quality care until the last patient leaves.

New facilities, new funding

The Riverview Hospital Redevelopment Project is a collaborative effort involving all five health authorities and the BC Ministry of Health. The ministry is providing $138 million in capital funding to construct new facilities or to renovate existing facilities where appropriate.

Ensuring access to services throughout BC

Once this new model of care is completely implemented, patients and families will be able to access specialized mental health services within each regional health authority, and Riverview Hospital will close. At this time, there is a plan in place to have all the patients transferred by July 2012.

As of January 2010, a total of 441 RVH replacement beds have opened in the province, including the 20-bed Connolly Lodge, 24-bed Cottonwood Lodge, and the newly opened 20-bed Cypress Lodge all located on the Riverview site. 25-bed Memorial Cottage, in Langley, opened in June 2009 and all four facilities are under the jurisdiction of Fraser Health Authority.

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority: 9 new beds opened at Lakeview Care Centre in Vancouver in summer 2007. This health authority is in the process of confirming its remaining locations for RVH replacement beds.

Fraser Health Authority: a total of 160 RVH replacement beds have opened to date, located in the communities of Delta, Coquitlam and Langley. In 2004, 19 beds opened at the Delta View Habilitation Centre. Fifty-two additional beds were opened at this same facility in June 2007. Operational responsibility for Connolly Lodge (20 beds), the original prototype facility built on the Riverview site, transferred from PHSA to Fraser Health in October 2006, while Cottonwood Lodge, the 24-bed “sister” facility to Connolly, opened in November 2006. More recently brand new Memorial Cottage, a 25-bed facility built on the grounds of the Langley Memorial Hospital, opened in June 2009. 20-bed Cypress Lodge joined Cottonwood and Connolly on the Riverview site and opened in January 2010.

Vancouver Island Health Authority: 24 new beds opened at the Seven Oaks Tertiary Mental Health Facility near Victoria, BC in 2002. There are also 40 new beds providing psycho-geriatric care at the Sandringham Care Centre, 10 minutes from downtown Victoria,

and four beds at the St. Joseph's Hospital in Comox were funded through the Riverview Redevelopment Project.

Northern Health Authority: a total of 65 RVH replacement beds have opened – 20 at Iris House in Prince George, 14 at Bulkley Valley Lodge in Smithers, 8 at the North Peace Care Centre in Fort St. John, and 20 at Seven Sisters in Terrace. Three tertiary acute beds for residents of northern communities are located in Kamloops, co-managed with Interior Health as part of a larger acute care facility.

Interior Health Authority: a total of 139 replacement beds have been developed. In Kamloops, 40 beds opened at South Hills Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre, 13 at Hilltop House, and 44 at the new Hillside Centre adjacent to Royal Inland Hospital (this facility houses a 25-bed component of the BC Neuropsychiatry Program, in addition to adult tertiary and geriatric psychiatric patients). A further 42 beds have been transferred to existing facilities in Cranbrook (Tamarack Cottage: 7 and FW Green: 2), Vernon (Polson: 5 and Aberdeen House: 7), Osoyoos (Country Squire: 8), Penticton (Braemore: 4) and Trail (Harbour House: 9).

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Last updated: 22 April 2010