St. Paul's Hospital is conceiving a plan to build what could be B.C.'s first non-hospital birthing centre.

The centre would be in a separate building adjacent to the new $1.2-billion hospital. Construction of the new hospital on the False Creek Flats is not expected to be completed for about seven years.

Babies born in the centre would be delivered by midwives or primary care doctors.

Of the 44,000 births in B.C. last year, 1,800 occurred at St. Paul's, and of those 60 per cent were low risk, said Darlene MacKinnon, chief clinical planning officer for the St. Paul's Hospital redevelopment project.

A handful of non-hospital birthing centres have cropped up across Canada as alternatives to hospitals, and are ideally suited to childbirths not anticipated to have complications.

"Birthing centres are a popular out-of-hospital option in the U.K. and New Zealand, so we are looking at that model of care," she said, adding that any plan will include input from other maternity hospitals such as BC Women's.

MacKinnon said under the concept, St. Paul's would keep its stable of specialists (obstetricians and gynecologists), especially for medium-to high-risk deliveries. But for uncomplicated deliveries, and for women who want to give birth in a nonhospital environment, birthing centres are seen as a more desirable, cost-efficient model of care. Low-risk pregnancies and births generally don't require high-tech interventions or surgery.

There are about 225 midwives in B.C. and they attended 8,600 births in 2013-14, or about 20 per cent of the total.

A provincial government plan anticipates midwives will attend up to one-third of all births by 2020.

The University of B.C. offers a four-year midwifery undergraduate degree program. The government pays midwives about $3,000 for care starting from the period after conception through to six weeks after birth.

The birthing centre is but one of the new concepts Providence Health Care is considering for its new site.

Shaf Hussain, spokesman for St. Paul's, said hospital redevelopment officials selected KPMG to steer its business plan, stakeholder and community engagement and clinical services planning process over the next several months. That will lead to an architectural design process.

The vacant property for the new hospital campus near Main and Terminal is 7.5 hectares in size. The hospital on Burrard Street will be demolished and the land sold when the new hospital is built.

While the new St. Paul's will have a hospital as its core, the large piece of land means there are opportunities to spread services out across three to five buildings. Besides the birthing centre, a 24-7 community health centre is also planned as a component of the campus. Family doctors and other health professionals would staff the centre, and that should help reduce the number of patients who rely on the emergency department for their non-emergency treatment.

Dianne Doyle, CEO of Providence, said more than 40 per cent of patients who go to the ER at St. Paul's have conditions that could be treated in other settings. An urgent care facility that may be part of the community health centre is another concept under consideration. "This is an exciting and extremely important opportunity to address such issues (as emergency and primary care), to redesign and transform our care in a manner that improves access, emphasizes prevention and healthy living and always puts patients at the centre of care," she said.

In a press release, Health Minister Terry Lake said he's pleased the hospital development plans are progressing "and I firmly believe that the new St. Paul's will better meet the needs of patients now and for the next 100 years."

Providence says it has had meetings with 40 groups, including residents of the West End, who are concerned about losing a hospital in their neighbourhood.

Sun health issues reporter pfayerman@vancouversun.com