The expansion of Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) is still on the province’s radar, but it will have to wait in line just like everyone else, says Ontario's health minister.
“As the premier mentioned (recently), we have many capital projects that are in the pipeline,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Friday when asked to provide an update on the expansion during a brief stop in Barrie.
RVH's expansion plans also include doubling in size the existing campus on Georgian Drive, which, in 2021 dollars, was estimated to cost $2.5 billion.
Currently, RVH has 390 beds at its location in north-end Barrie. As part of its $3-billion expansion plans, that is expected to grow to 478 beds in five years and 611 beds in a decade.
There are also plans for a second campus in Innisfil. In the works since 2017 and known as the south campus, it will be located on an 83-acre parcel of land near the intersection of Innisfil Beach Road and Simcoe County Road 4 (Yonge Street) and would include a “health hub” that focuses primarily on outpatient care.
There are to be 915 beds between both campuses in 20 years and see more than one million patient visits each year.
The south campus is expected to be built using a phased approach, starting with ambulatory and urgent care services, so that patients are expected to have access to outpatient services closer to home, including day surgeries, minor medical procedures, treatments and diagnostic tests.
The second phase will include post-acute care, adding inpatient beds that are not dependent on the emergency department.
The third phase will occur within 20 years for the Innisfil site to become a full-service hospital with inpatient units, surgical suites and a 24/7 emergency department.
The new south campus health hub will also free up capacity and reduce wait times at the north campus emergency department in Barrie, and allow for expanded services and infrastructure.
RVH's Barrie site will feature a new, nine-storey tower, inpatient beds, operating rooms and an expanded emergency department.
As the population in Simcoe County continues to increase, Jones acknowledged that there’s “no doubt” expanded services such as those that are planned for ta new campus in Innisfil are needed.
“We are actively working with the hospital and the board to make sure we move those projects ahead, but there is quite a pipeline and it is a back and forth between both the hospital and the ministry to make sure we can support them in those expansions and builds,” said Jones.
