UNC Health and Duke Health are partnering to build North Carolina’s first standalone children's hospital by the early 2030s, according to a press release from UNC Health.
While the location for “N.C. Children’s” is yet to be determined, the press release said the new hospital will include 500 beds, an outpatient center and a children’s behavioral health center.
Construction is expected to begin by 2027 and will take about six years. The total cost of construction is expected to exceed $2 billion, which will be raised through a combination of public funds and support from both universities and their donors.
Dr. Stephanie Davis, physician in chief at UNC Children's, said that a decrease in specialized providers in pediatric care motivated UNC Health and Duke Health to combine resources and regionalize care.
“We are the most populated state in the country that doesn't have its own free standing, independent children's hospital,” Davis said.
Unlike the existing children’s hospitals in the state, N.C. Children’s will be the first to function on its own campus dedicated to pediatrics, rather than under the management of a general hospital. Davis said she hopes that this new model will allow for a wide range of specialists to help support those with complex needs.
Dr. Robert Lark, the division chief of pediatric orthopaedics at Duke University, said that a free standing hospital geared toward children could better address nuances in pediatric care.
“For example, something as simple as having a small enough tourniquet to put on the extremity of a two-year-old child is not the same as a tourniquet to put on a 28-year-old man,” Lark said.
Lark is also the director of a Duke-UNC Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Fellowship program. He said Duke Health has been working with UNC Health in the background for a long time, and that he's excited to see their partnership flourish through the new children's hospital.
