A new master plan for Manitoba's biggest hospital will make sure services provided at the large downtown Winnipeg campus will help meet current and future health-care needs in the province, Health Minister Cameron Friesen says.

The long-term blueprint to be developed for the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre will give direction to future development and help align the services offered by the provincial government and its health-care partners, the health ministry said in a news release Monday.

"We know how important the Health Sciences Centre is to the Manitoba health system," Minister Cameron Friesen told reporters at the legislative building on Monday afternoon.

"It is our only true tertiary hospital. It offers a full range of services," he said. "It is a hub for the delivery of healthcare, for education, for research, for cancer care, but clearly a plan is needed."

As the province's centre for trauma, transplants, burns, neurosciences and complex cancer care, it also delivers the most specialized care for adults and children, according to the release.

The master plan will include an inventory of buildings, facilities and infrastructure, as well as any anticipated shifts in the location of specific clinical services to best meet the changing population's needs.

"Our needs for healthcare are constantly growing ... we see that clearly we need to undertake a master plan, a significant exercise to decide how are we going to grow that campus," Friesen said.

"This will be the road map."

Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen says the master plans for the hospital campus will consider existing facilities and services, as well as clinical planning. ( Tyson Koschik/CBC)

More than 8,000 staff, physicians and volunteers care for patients at the hospital's campus, which spans 39 acres and more than 4 million square feet of occupied space in the area within Notre Dame Avenue to the south, Sherbrook Street to the east, William Avenue to the north and Tecumseh Street to the west.

"That space isn't getting any bigger," said Friesen.

He was unable to give specific details of what will be included in the plans.

Mapping it out

A comprehensive review like this hasn't happened in years, and it should've started years ago, he said. "The second best time to undertake this is right now."

The province has spent significant capital dollars on a new Ambulatory Care Clinic, the Women's Hospital, the Acute Stroke Unit and the Mental Health Crisis Response Centre, the news release says.

Every clinical hospital-based service available in the province is offered at HSC, with the exception of cardiac surgery and eye surgery, its website says.

"It is essential to have the comprehensive view of the development of the campus," Friesen said.

Its emergency department sees more than 330 patients per day.

Thousands of staff, physicians and volunteers care for patients at Health Sciences Centre, which stands on 39 acres of land near Winnipeg's centre. (Trevor Brine/CBC)

"Any campus redevelopment must take into account the priorities and population health needs of Manitobans," said Dr. Brock Wright, president and CEO of Shared Health, the health authority responsible for Health Sciences Centre. The master plan will help ensure they can meet those needs, he said in the release.

The plan for capital spending at HSC is the first in a series of master planning efforts, Friesen said. The fate of the former women's hospital will be determined as part of those plans, a department spokesperson confirmed.

No estimated cost or timeframe for the review and future developments were available on Monday.

Friesen said the province will issue a request for proposals for the development contract "in a matter of weeks."