The province is investing more than $20 million in expanding capacity and upgrading infrastructure at two Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) hospitals.
Health Minister Christine Elliott made the announcement at the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre on Wednesday, which is getting $5 million in new funding for the ‘redevelopment’ of the site on top of another $3 million already invested by the Ford government.
The work will include adding a new patient care tower with more than 100 new inpatient beds and will also involve renovations to existing infrastructure to increase capacity for ambulatory care and various support programs.
The other $15 million of the newly-announced money will be going toward expanding the emergency department at Hamilton General Hospital, which sees roughly 50,000 patients from across the region each year and is one of the busiest trauma centres in the province.
The expansion will include adding more space for ambulance offloading, with the goal of decreasing wait times.
Rob MacIsaac, president and CEO of HHS, said the additional capacity at both hospitals is welcome news.
“We’ve got a growing community and a community that’s growing old at the same time, so we’re seeing lots of increased pressure for our services,” he said.
“Having the added capacity both within our emergency departments but also in the wards … is a very good news announcement for the city of Hamilton and for the surrounding region.”
The upgrade work is expected to start by 2025 and wrap up by 2027.
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