TIMELINE: New hospital coming to K-W region

New hospital to be built on UW campus St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital are planning a new joint acute care hospital on UW’s campus. Jeff Pickel has the detail

It’s been over two years since Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital announced the development project of a new hospital in Waterloo Region.

The hospitals submitted a joint proposal to the Ontario government in June of 2022 after they consulted with staff, the community and health system partners like Cambridge Memorial Hospital and the KW4 Ontario Health Team.

The proposal included details on constructing a new, state-of-the-art hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo with around 1,200 beds, as well as plans to repurpose the current location of Grand River Hospital.

On Monday, local officials, alongside Premier Doug Ford, announced the new hospital’s location would be built on vacant land on the University of Waterloo’s campus.

As for how long the building process will take, the completion of the new hospital is expected in the next 10 to 15 years.

Here’s a look back at some of the project’s key moments:

June 2022: Planning got underway for a new hospital in the region. Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital submitted a proposal to the provincial government for a state-of-the-art hospital with around 1,200 beds.

As part of the plan, Grand River Hospital would be repurposed as an ambulatory and urgent care centre. Grand River Hospital’s Freeport Campus would be modernized and expanded for rehabilitation services.

The future of the St. Mary’s Hospital site hadn’t been decided.

The announcement came after the Ontario government promised to invest $5 million into the planning process.

March 2023: Grand River and St. Mary’s hospitals begun the process to identify a site to build the proposed new joint hospital.

July 2023: The teambehind theproject asked the public for feedback about where the facility should be located. The two hospitals launched an online survey to hear from residents.

The survey questions asked about the importance of travel time to the hospital, the amount of parking and proximity to public transit.

The hospitals also announced the selection of a five-person panel who would be leading efforts to identify a site.

January 9, 2024: The panel in charge of recommending the location for the new hospital announced three sites had been shortlisted and would be evaluated.

Five proposals were received from interested property owners. Of those, three met the criteria – including being at least 50 acres in size – to move on to phase two.

The shortlisted sites were evaluated on criteria including proximity to current or future population density, major roads, transit stations and amenities. The cost of purchasing the land was also taken into consideration, along with its size, as bigger sites will score higher.

January 17, 2024: St. Mary’s and Grand River Hospitals invited the public to a town hall meeting to discuss the future of the new hospital.

April 2024: The two hospitals said they would be looking to merge into a single new hospital organization by the spring of 2025.

The hospitals said a due diligence process regarding the details of the merge would get underway along with consultation with the Ontario Ministry of Health.

The hospitals had been partners for over 20 years and believed a merger would make it easier for patients to access care.

The hospitals said they would be working toward one senior leadership team including one CEO.

May 10, 2024: The group responsible for picking a potential site for the new hospital narrowed down the list to two.

“To ensure a fair negotiation process, the site locations and landowners will not be shared until land has been secured,” the five-person Site Selection Panel said in a media release.

They added that negotiations could take several months.

May 31, 2024: Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital and the University of Waterloo joined forces for the Care Next Coalition in an effort to allow the hospitals and the universities to pool resources to support research.

June 2024: The two Kitchener hospitals collected feedback through a community town hall and public survey to work out the details of the upcoming merger.

July 2024: Local officials and Premier Doug Ford announced the new hospital’s site at the David Johnston Research + Technology Park (R+T Park).

April 1: The Ministry of Health officially approves the merger between Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital. The hospitals, along with GRH’s Freeport Campus, will now be known as the Waterloo Region Health Network.