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Momentum building as plans for new hospital accelerate

After more than 15 years of planning, momentum is building for a new hospital that will transform how Brant Community Healthcare System cares for patients.

In recent months, we’ve made significant progress driving forward a project that will help our growing community thrive for generations to come.

Momentum building as plans for new hospital accelerate Back to video

Last spring, Ontario’s government approved our concept of building a new hospital on a new site and provided an additional $12.5-million planning grant to continue planning for our redevelopment.

This spring, an independent task force is expected to deliver its recommendations on preferred locations in Brantford-Brant for the new hospital. The task force closed the initial phase of its call for land proposals on February 10 after receiving submissions from many landowners. The task force will evaluate the submissions over the next couple of months before it expects to deliver its recommendation on a preferred site to the BCHS Board of Directors for consideration this spring. We anticipate sharing this publicly after the final negotiations, likely in the fall.

We are preparing to submit our Stage 1.3 Functional Program to the Ministry of Health this June – the final submission required as part of the early planning stage for a new hospital project. This submission outlines the services we expect to provide, how care will be delivered, and the types and sizes of spaces the new hospital will need to serve our community.

We’re getting closer. Our planning is accelerating. This project is taking shape. We can feel excitement growing in our daily conversations with patients, staff, municipal partners, and community health partners – including through public consultations over the past year.

As we continue to make steady progress, we want to make sure that everyone is up to date on our latest planning. We’ve been at this a long time. Our early thinking has evolved over the years as we’ve adapted to the changing landscape around us and gathered more feedback from patients, staff, and community members about what’s most important to them today and for our future.

To ensure we’re all on the same page, our vision is to continue delivering exceptional patient care to our rapidly growing community by replacing our outdated and ailing facilities with a larger, new hospital featuring expanded services and state-of-the-art technology. We don’t need a mega-hospital, just the right hospital for our community: one that’s modern, functional, and built for the future.

Our plan for a new hospital to serve more patients includes:

40 per cent more beds

Single rooms for all patients

One third more capacity in a full-service, 24/7 emergency department

33 per cent more ICU beds

A state-of the art family birthing centre with 100 per cent private birthing rooms and post-partum rooms

An expanded and dedicated integrated stroke unit with a 45 per cent increase in beds for stroke patients

A comprehensive state-of-the-art surgical suite including prep and recovery, day surgery, and operating rooms

Expanded diagnostics in all major testing areas

An Indigenous healing centre in an accessible and visible location.

BCHS serves the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nations community in Canada – just minutes away from our facilities. BCHS has a comprehensive Indigenous Health Team in place and a new Indigenous Health Strategy. A new hospital is an opportunity to design a facility together with local First Nations that enhances our work towards cultural safety, traditional medicines, and incorporates more of the natural worlds as part of the First Nations and Indigenous patient experience.

Our two sites – Brantford General Hospital and The Willett Hospital in Paris – have served our community well for over a century. But they have far exceeded their functional lifespans and no longer meet the needs of the communities we serve.

In the months ahead, you’re going to be hearing more frequently from BCHS about our new hospital. We’re going to be speaking about the future home of our new hospital as the site selection process continues. We’ll continue to meet with our municipal partners as we seek support and input. And we’ll be providing community members more opportunities to shape our plans.

We can’t wait to hear what matters most to all of our partners and build a hospital system that truly works for today’s health care needs and future growth.

Bonnie Camm is President and CEO of Brant Community Healthcare System – Provided to The Expositor by the Brant Community Healthcare System

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