Ontario provides $10M for Waterloo hospital plan

WATERLOO — The Ontario government is investing an additional $10 million to support the planning and construction of a new Waterloo Regional Health Network hospital, connecting more patients and families in the Waterloo Region to more convenient, high-quality care close to home.

“Our government is making historic investments to protect Ontario’s health-care system, ensuring that more people in Waterloo Region can connect to the care they need, where and when they need it,” said Sylvia Jones (pictured), deputy premier and minister of health. “By investing to build a brand-new Waterloo Regional Health Network hospital, we are making it faster and easier for more people and their families to access world-class care in their community, for generations to come.”

This funding builds on the Ontario government’s previous investment of $5 million and will allow Waterloo Regional Health Network to advance planning to build a new acute-care hospital in Waterloo. This state-of-the-art facility will expand capacity, improve services and reduce wait times, ensuring the hospital can continue to meet the needs of the rapidly growing region for years to come.

Once opened, the new hospital would include:

• Increased patient capacity to meet the community’s future needs and allow more people to connect to care sooner
• More access to core programs, emergency services and critical care
• Expanded cardiac clinics as part of the Regional Cardiac Care Centre, increasing access to life-saving cardiac care
• Medical imaging, diagnostic services and enhanced surgical spaces
• Maternal, newborn and pediatric care
• Modernized medical and surgical inpatient units to allow people to receive vital surgeries and procedures sooner

The new hospital site is located on the University of Waterloo lands; a close relationship with the university is in the works to develop new systems and techniques for providing healthcare.