Plans for the new integrated health-care centre in Sooke are gathering momentum, says Sooke Mayor Maja Tait.
Sooke council directed staff to hire a consultant last week to assist with the competitive solicitation process for the design, build and financing of the project, which will have all medical services under one roof.
“We need to pull it out of the ground,” Tait said. “We felt it was important to make that decision to get it out there in the public to keep the ball rolling and build momentum.”
While the provincial health ministry has committed to covering the lease and implementation of staff, it is not funding the construction cost.
“The aim is to find a developer who can work with us to make the building cost neutral, so cost recovery can come from other floors,” Tait explained. That may include commercial office space and affordable housing.
The integrated health centre, which has been talked about for more than a decade, took a major step forward with the appointment of a steering committee by the District of Sooke last November that consists of representatives from Sooke council and three members of the Sooke Region Community Health Network (SRCHN). Their mandate is to research and develop options for a community health centre on land near the Sooke library on Wadams Way as lot A.
SRCHN will be the community’s governing body for the new facility, which will include a community health centre and urgent care centre.
“This centre is really needed in Sooke,” said Annemieke Holthuis, who took over as president of SRCHN last June. “SRCHN has recognized that need for a decade.”
The steering committee meets monthly with the Ministry of Health and Island Health, and also weekly with Island Health.
The current plan is based on one drafted in 2022 that involves the transfer of existing personnel and resources from West Coast Family Medical in Evergreen Centre to the new facility.
Holthuis said a number of important steps are progressing, including work on the service delivery plan and preparing the request for proposal for development.
Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar stressed that getting the centre up and running is a top priority, as underlined by former MLA John Horgan’s announcement last year to provide $6 million to equip the facility.
”We need to get builders in the community involved and find a solution,” Parmar said. “My focus is to get this up and running, and the ministry and I will help to move this along as quickly as possible. I’d like to see something by 2025. I don’t want to be talking about this in five years.”
Holthuis said the committee aims to have the service delivery model finalized in the next few months.
“That’s a key element of the RFP, which we hope will go out by late spring,” she said.
The Ministry and Island Health have been “very” supportive, said Holthuis, who has an extensive background with non-profit organizations, and managed a similar integrated health care facility in Ontario.
Part of the discussions with the ministry is about establishing staffing numbers based on Stats Canada data, which Holthuis noted is always a couple of years behind.
“We want to ensure that what’s built has sufficient staff and space to deal with the community’s growing population,” Holthuis explained. “Once those stages are completed, we’ll be in a much better position to speak to the cost.
“We’ve also asked for additional personnel to meet with the growing mental health needs in Sooke and for more family doctors and nurse practitioners with a focus on team-based care,” she said. “We want to ensure that what’s built has sufficient staff and space to deal with the community’s growing population anticipated between 2025 and 2030.”
Holthuis said discussion with potential partners about locating other services such as diagnostic imaging and laboratory services are ongoing.
There is currently only one other similar integrated care centre in the province. Two more are planned, including the one in Sooke.
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