The Nicola Valley Hospital and Health Centre is one step closer to expanding its emergency room.
The Thompson Regional Hospital District and Interior Health Authority have agreed to split $600,000 in planning funding for the expansion of hospital as a result of recent meetings.
The two parties met at the end of March to discuss joint funding for the expansion project, agreeing to a 60-40 per cent split, with the IHA supplying the lion’s share.
“The emergency room upgrade is going ahead and as of this month there will be a project manager assigned to that project,” TNRD Area M director Randy Murray told the Herald, noting the conceptual planning process this funding covers will take about 18 months.
The funding allows IHA to move toward coming together with architects and other professionals to examine the hospital site in an effort to draw up the conceptual plan.
Murray said he requested that local hospital staff and doctors be part of the planning process, an assurance he received in this past meeting.
He said this funding will not result in a raise in hospital taxes.
“This is something we’ve been planning for a long time,” Murray said.
The 2015 TRHD budget will not see a hospital tax increase per household on average. The average household will pay $126.55 in hospital taxes for 2015, which is the same amount as 2014.
The project will focus on the emergency room’s physical expansion.
The project was announced back in November and has been labelled a top priority by the health authority.
