Province approves 52 new beds for Sudbury hospital

Health Sciences North in Sudbury says the province has approved the creation of 52 new beds at the hospital.

To create the space, the current Children's Treatment Centre on Ramsey Lake Road will be renovated,and the new beds are expected to be ready by 2022.

The hospital says it's working with the province to finalize details to relocate the children's treatment centre to a nearby space, adding that it's working to make the transition to the new location as seamless as possible for children and their families. The details on that move will be released next week.

In a statement issued Thursday morning, HSN says the province will be providing a capital grant for this project to help address the "historical issue of hallway medicine" at the hospital.

"Northerners know HSN was built too small. This investment will certainly help with that,"HSN President and CEO Dominic Girouxsaid.

"[As of] this morning we have ... 42 patients in unconventional bed spaces, or who are admitted in the emergency department and waiting for a bed. There are also 44 hospital patients at the Clarion hotel. So that's why today's announcement of the creation of 52 new beds will really have a positive impact for patients across northeastern Ontario."

Officials say the total capital cost of the project "will be released following final administrative reviews by each ministry and the tendering processes are complete."

France Glinas, the Nickel Belt NDP MPP, says the announcement is good news, but notes the 52 beds are only a short term solution.

"They have a backlog of 4,200people in pain that need surgery and they had to cancel them all because the hospital was full. We've known this for a long time," she said.

"Health Sciences North is too small. So they will have to look at a capital master plan that looks at the size hospital [needed]."

Glinassaid it's not justthe people of Sudbury who rely on Health Sciences North, it's a medical hub for all of northeastern Ontario.

"Manypeople in northeastern Ontario get transferred to Health Sciences North because it's the only place that the service is available for tertiary care. So [a]master plan for the hospital is what we really need.It will have to be changed and expanded in a significant way,"Glinassaid.

Girouxconcurs that the new beds announced today are welcome news for the short term.

"We have developed a 20-year capital master plan to meet the future needs of northeastern Ontario, and we will have more to say about phase one of our proposed capital redevelopment later in 2021," he said.

"We know that demand will continue to increase, said Giroux citing population estimates that say the 65 and older demographic will grow by 29 per cent in northeastern Ontario over the next decade.

"So we can expect that the demand for occupancy will continue to increase. And our responsibility is to continue to have the right physical footprint to meet the future needs of the region five, 10 and 20 years from now."

Today's announcement of 52 beds for HSN is part of200 more transitional care beds being given thegreen lightby the province.

Other centres that have been approved for extra beds include Toronto, Newmarket, Kingston and Hamilton.