Grand River and St. Mary’s plan to join together

KITCHENER, Ont. – Building on a long history of partnership and collaboration, Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital have agreed to explore a voluntary merger into a single new hospital corporation. The proposed new organization would operate existing hospital sites and services, while continuing to move forward with their joint Building the Future of Care Together capital redevelopment project.

The hospital boards independently voted in favour of creating a new, single hospital organization to care for their communities.

This change has also been supported by Board of Directors at St. Joseph’s Health System Corporation, of which St. Mary’s is a division. The hospitals will now undertake a due diligence process regarding the details of the planned, voluntary merger in consultation with the Ontario Ministry of Health.

“Our goal in joining together is to provide our communities with faster, improved access to modern, fully integrated care,” said St. Mary’s Board of Trustees chair, Tim Rollins (pictured on left). “While we initially intended to maintain separate governance structures, it has become increasingly clear that leveraging our combined strengths as a single organization will put us in the best position to navigate the changing healthcare landscape.”

“Our hospitals have incredible strengths and we are excited to learn from each other, bringing together the best of both hospital cultures to provide an exceptional patient experience,” said Grand River Board chair, Sandra Hanmer (pictured on right). “This decision is about meeting the needs of our rapidly growing communities to provide better care today, and for generations to come. This is an evolution of our partnership as we work together to build our future hospital system.”

The planned merger builds on a decades-long history of partnership and collaboration between the hospital organizations that has included a joint medical staff, shared clinical support services, collaborative COVID-19 responses, a shared health information system, and joint fundraising campaigns.

In consultations last fall, the hospitals received input from patients, team members, physicians and community members urging them to consider the benefits of merging to make it easier for patients to access care.

Building on these discussions, the organizations will continue to engage with hospital teams, partners, donors, patients and the public to gather input on the due diligence process and how they can best serve their communities.

If approved by the hospital and corporation boards, as well as the Ontario Ministry of Health, transition to the new organization is expected to take about one year, with the launch anticipated in spring 2025.

A decision on the name and identity of the new organization will be made later in the planning process, based on consultation and input with teams and communities. Regular updates on progress will be provided over the months ahead.

As the hospitals explore the proposed merger, the capital redevelopment project – Building the Future of Care Together – to build a new acute care hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo and modernize two existing hospital sites (the Kitchener-Waterloo site and Freeport site) – will continue to move forward.

The current hospital sites will remain operational, with no immediate changes or impacts on patient care as a result of the integration.

St. Joseph’s Health System will lead an engagement process to explore future opportunities for the St. Mary’s site to support the needs of the community with patients, community members, municipal planning bodies, academic, research and innovation partners, and health and social care partners.

“St. Joseph’s Health System is excited to work with partners to adapt, innovate and continue to support the community, guided by our legacy of mission-based care through compassionate care, faith and discovery,” said St. Joseph’s Health System Corporation Board Chair, Roger Fulton. “Together, we are responding to the community’s call to revitalize services, advocate for change and transform the healthcare system.”