Roper Worried About Goose Creek Site

Roper St. Francis Healthcare is vowing to continue its challenge of a Summerville Medical Center expansion in an ongoing dispute with Trident Health Systems regarding .

On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Environmental Control by Trident to add 30 beds to the Summerville hospital.

The $26 million upgrade has been cheered by the Dorchester County community.

"This bed expansion, which the state recognized and predicted, is crucial to providing the community the quality health care they need," Trident wrote in a statement.

But it raises serious questions about the Carnes Crossing location for Roper, and the hospital system says to fight Trident's state approval.

"We are not opposed to Summerville Medical Center expanding services if that is what Dorchester County needs," said Doug Bowling, Roper St. Francis Healthcare's vice president and chief strategy officer.

"Unfortunately it is the people of Berkeley County who could be left without a hospital because of Trident's actions."

Last month, Roper challenged the Summerville expansion, linking it to an ongoing dispute between the two hospital systems about Berkeley County facilities.

Trident, which is planning an expansion at its Moncks Corner site, has been blocking Roper's Goose Creek facility, arguing the two hospitals aren't necessary. Roper has argued that both hospitals can be viable, and it says that if Trident has capacity concerns, it should also be worried about the necessity of its own Summerville expansion.

"Trident refuses to explain this very basic inconsistency: Trident says the Berkeley County population cannot support the two hospitals that are proposed for construction there, which would include 100 beds," Bowling said.

"They contradict themselves entirely by asserting that Dorchester County's population, with a population almost 1/3 smaller, must have 124 beds," he said.

Roper is supporting an Administrative Law Court review of the DHEC decision.