Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre has submitted a redevelopment plan for approval by the provincial government. The pre-capital submission outlines RVH's 20 year graduated infrastructure plan based on a two-campus, integrated model. It will improve access to care and expand space and services per Barrie Today.
The proposed plan which was approved by RVH's Board of Directors, will include the following:
- Double the size of the current Georgian Drive north campus through significant renovations and expansion
- Construction of a new nine-story inpatient tower
- North campus will introduce new programs and expand surgical services
- Add up to 240 beds
- Ease hallway medicine
- Bring the total number of beds on the current campus to 656
- A new RVH south campus will be built on a still undetermined site in Innisfil or south Barrie with an ambulatory health hub and expand over 20 years to become a full-service hospital with a 24/7 emergency department
A great deal of community consultation was conducted in this planning process. A dedicated engagement team logged 27,000 interactions with area residents, patients and families, health and community partners, RVH staff, physicians and volunteers.
"This ambitious plan is driven by explosive population growth that has resulted in crippling capacity challenges at RVH. On most days, there are no beds available in our health centre and we have no choice but to care for patients in hallways. Given that the population of the Barrie/Innisfil area is expected to double over the next 20 years, we need to secure approvals for this important project as soon as possible to ensure RVH is able to meet the region's hospital needs."
RVH president and CEO | Janice Skot
According to Barrie360, RVH's 600 page submission includes key planning documents called a Master Plan and Master Program which are required by the provincial government. This details the evaluation of the current hospital and it's services, population and patient volume projections, a high-level space and design plan and cost estimates.
It has to be approved by the Ministry of Health which would give RVH the green light to move forward to the first of five planning stages.
An article in The Hospital News stated that the $450 million project comes just 15 years after RVH opened its 500,000 square foot facility.
As the largest hospital in Simcoe Muskoka, the expansion offers many specialized services not found elsewhere in the region such as a respiratory and cardiac unit and interventional radiology. It features $70 million in state-of-the-art equipment, including Canada's first Robotic Intravenous Automation System for the safe, consistent preparation of chemotherapy treatments and one of the first fully-automated laboratories in the country. The additional capacity, services and technology will allow RVH to care for more patients closer to home.
The redevelopment also includes Rotary House lodge for cancer patients and is also the new location for RVH's Family Medicine Teaching Unit.
Because of the huge size of this expansion, RVH will have to hire over 700 employees with the majority of them nurses, over the next three years.
