A business plan has been approved for a $217-million-dollar expansion to the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.

The Ministry of Health says that project will include a new three-storey wing, an expansion to the E-R, a mental health unit and maternal services unit, more parking and more room for ambulances.

“It will also, I think, in the building of this hospital at this time, will be particularly for the region. With the creation of 1,400 direct and indirect jobs, stimulating economic growth while ensuring our healthcare system meets the needs of our future,” Health Minister Adrian Dix says.

Chair of Interior Health Doug Cochrane says the business plan has taken several months, and points out the planning has gone on for nearly a decade.

“The goal of course is to have a centre of high-quality healthcare that will address a variety of different needs, focused on delivering healthcare in rural environments. These are very different than what you plan in downtown Vancouver or even Kelowna and in Kamloops. And I think it reflects a diversity of needs for healthcare across British Columbia.”

Chair of the Cariboo Regional Hospital District and mayor of Quesnel, Bob Simpson, says the hospital’s expansion will help with recruitment and retention at CMH.

“The added value to the hospital, through the mental health and substance use pod, the maternity pod, the maternity pod, what we would be able to do in emergency, and additional capacity in ICU. All of that makes it much easier for us to recruit and retain healthcare professionals.”

Construction is expected to begin in 2021 and should be finished by 2025.