The Ontario government will spend more than $15-million to redevelop the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital as part of its plan to end hallway health care.
The redevelopment will include the expansion and upgrades to existing aged infrastructure, with the goal to improve access to health care for residents of Collingwood and the surrounding areas.
“After years of waiting, patients and their families can finally look forward to a new and improved Collingwood General and Marine Hospital,” Ontario health minister and deputy premier Christine Elliott said in a statement.
“By investing in major hospital infrastructure, our government is furthering our commitment to build a modern, connected health-care system and put an end to hallway health-care for all Ontarians.”
The current Collingwood hospital has been serving a growing community with an increasing senior population for more than 60 years with limited upgrades.
As part of the redevelopment, the hospital will add more patient capacity, renovate the existing building and expand key services like intensive care, emergency, diagnostic imaging and the operating suite.
The Ontario government will also increase the hospital’s operating funding for a third straight year. The Collingwood hospital will receive more than $1.9 million in additional operating funds starting this year, representing a 4.2 per cent increase to the funding received by the hospital in 2020-2021.
“I want to thank the Province of Ontario for its commitment to provide the necessary funding to plan and design the much needed health-care facility,” Collingwood Mayor Brian Saunderson said in a statement.
“Today’s announcement is an important milestone in the redevelopment process and I know our communities will continue to work together to ensure that our residents have access to a state of the art health-care facility for generations to come.”