North Carolina doesn't have a free-standing children's hospital. Here's why it matters

Thousands of children every day are cared for at children’s hospitals across the state.

Month after month, those hospitals, like UNC Children’s Hospital, have dealt with a lack of bed space.

UNC Children’s Physician-in-Chief Dr. Stephanie Davis says staff work “all day long” to manage capacity. She explained part of that is determining if they can send children from other counties who received care in Chapel Hill back to a hospital closer to their home.

“On top of that, we’re talking to outside physicians who are taking care of children, and emergency rooms and outside hospitals and helping them care for those children locally until we can get them here to UNC,” Davis said.

The North Carolina Pediatric Society updates a dashboard daily to help doctors know who has available pediatric ICU beds.

Recently, many hospitals are operating at 80-90% capacity or higher.

As of Feb. 7, 2024, the dashboard showed UNC Children’s and Duke Children’s pediatric ICUs were 95% full, and WakeMed Children’s was 100% full. Statewide, 85% of pediatric beds were full.

“There are two main reasons we're seeing that: one has been the population growth in the state of North Carolina,” said Davis.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, North Carolina is the third-fastest growing state in the country. The most recent data shows the state has gained 396,000 new residents since 2020.

That means the state is adding a population nearly the size of Cary every year.

Davis explained the second thing factoring into high capacity issues is the closure of pediatric wards across the state.

The issue is one WRAL News has reported on in the past. Just last month, UNC Health Wayne closed in-patient pediatric care.

Davis is among those working to solve the problem. She said building the state’s first free-standing children’s hospital would greatly reduce capacity issues across the board.

“We're the most populated state in the country without a free-standing children's hospital,” Davis said.

Similar to how UNC Children’s is connected to the women’s hospital in Chapel Hill, Levine Children’s in Charlotte is also part of a larger hospital campus where the focus is on adult care.

Last year, UNC Health announced plans to build a free-standing children’s hospital somewhere in the Triangle with the goal of opening in 2030.

“We’re looking at approximately a 500-bed children's hospital with 100 for mental health,” said Davis.

The doctor explained the extra space for mental health patients is greatly needed because the hospital sees pediatric mental health patients year round.

If the hospital becomes reality, Davis said the goal would be for most pediatric care to occur in the free-standing hospital.

UNC Children’s existing emergency room would remain open.

“We would still see some children through our emergency room here, and we would still have deliveries here, so we would take care of newborns,” she explained.

UNC Health officials say the ultimate goal would be to build a 200+-acre pediatric care campus that would also include an outpatient facility, physician offices and more.

Officials behind the build say having a free-standing hospital would allow for more resources to be devoted to pediatric care with complex medical problems and would help attract more top-rated physicians.

The project has already received $320 million from the state. In total, the project is expected to cost upwards of $2 billion.