WellSpan plans $255 million expansion for York Hospital

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WellSpan York Hospital will expand its intensive care unit with a $255 million surgical and critical care tower, planned to open on the hospital’s campus in 2025.

WellSpan Health said today it will build an eight-story tower that will increase the hospital’s number of Intensive Care Unit beds and allow for larger surgical suites and new anesthesia and pre-and-post-operative care areas.

The project is expected to add 248,000 square feet of space, and 32,000 square feet of renovations, an increase in size that the hospital system said would make it one of the 10 largest in the state.

The tower is set to be built near the intersection of West Drive and Irving Road on the site where WellSpan York Hospital’s Marie Ketterman Building and South Hall currently stand, which will require the two buildings to be demolished.

“This project will build upon WellSpan York Hospital’s reputation as a regional destination for the most advanced care for patients with complex medical conditions,” said John Porter, executive vice president and COO of WellSpan.

The tower’s new surgical suites will be large enough to make room for robotic surgical and advanced medical technology already used in some of the hospital’s operating rooms. WellSpan said that the expansion would make every operating room capable of using the technology.

Expanded operating rooms will incorporate pain management techniques meant to reduce the need for opioids and pain medicine after procedures, said Porter.

WellSpan’s surgical and critical care tower is expected to increase the hospital’s ICU bed count from 60 to 96, bringing the hospital’s overall beds to more than 600. The unit will have new spaces for family wishing to stay with the patient during their stay in critical care.

The new ICU will be near the new operating rooms in the tower, providing a more streamlined healing process for critical patients.

To allow for the increase in patient population at the hospital, the project will include an additional 150 parking spaces for patients and visitors, which the system said could be added to the hospital’s front parking deck as an extension.