View Royal Surgical Centre (VRSC) in Victoria and Seafield Surgical Centre (SSC) in Nanaimo will be absorbed into the public sector following the takeover of leases and buying of assets in a purchase totalling $11.5 million by Island Health this week.

Photo credit: View Royal Surgical CentreThe BC Government recently announced a $250 million plan to help ease surgical backlogs across the province.The takeover is part of a larger initiative to expand surgery access to residents across the Island. It is hoped that the new facilities will be able to take on an additional 2,300 surgeries and 2,300 2,300 endoscopies per year.

Health Minister Adrian Dix hopes the added capacity will help ease some of the backlog of surgeries that saw a sharp increase during the COVID-19 pandemic:

“Adding the View Royal Surgical Centre (VRSC) in Victoria and Seafield Surgical Centre (SSC) in Nanaimo into the public health-care system means that we will be able to increase capacity and reduce wait times for people who need surgery,” said Dix. “Our government is committed to delivering surgical care for British Columbians when they need it, including recovering from the surgical impacts of the pandemic, and bringing these centres on as Island Health facilities will help all of us achieve this goal.”

Currently, the facilities perform certain low-complexity day care procedures such as plastic, general, orthopedics, urology, vascular, pediatric dental, endoscopy and cataract surgery requiring a hospital stay of less than 24 hours.