Downtown Vancouver hospital move draws fire

The battle over moving St. Paul's Hospital from downtown Vancouver to the False Creek Flats near the train station is heating up.

The coalition that is trying to keep the busy downtown hospital at its current location on Burrard Street says the decision to move has already been made, despite promises to hold community consultations.

It claims that hospital staff were told by Providence Health Care last month the plans to move have been finalized.

Save St. Paul's Coalition spokesman Aaron Jasper told a public forum Sunday the public consultations should have happened before any preliminary plans were made.

"Any consultation that takes place after the decision is not consultation, it's a sales pitch. If this was to be meaningful consultation, it should have been done before a decision was made, [and] incorporate that feedback into the business case."

But Neil McConnell of Providence Health Care, who attended the forum, said the plans to move have not been finalized.

"Well, I tried to be very very clear. There's has been no decision relative to the hospital. And before we do that, we'll have public consultations to inform the business case. We'll rewrite it if we have to."

McConnell says the public consultations will take place in the spring and summer.

The current plan calls for part of the current St. Paul's site to be redeveloped for commercial and residential use.

Some services including urgent, primary and secondary care would also continue to be offered at the downtown location.

About 100 people attended the forum.