Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.
Niagara’s newest hospital will open to patients Sunday.
On Nov. 23, inpatients are set to be transferred to West Lincoln Memorial Hospital and the emergency department will open to the public that morning at 7 a.m.
In a news release, Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), the hospital network managing the facility, asked visitors not to come by opening day.
All other services and programs at the new hospital will be available as of Nov. 24, HHS said.
New hospital 80 per cent larger than old one
On Nov. 14, HHS leaders and politicians including Premier Doug Ford went to the site to mark the occasion.
Construction of the new Grimsby, Ont., facility began in 2022, with the new hospital coming together next to the old one, according to the HHS website.
The 76-year-old hospital could “no longer meet the demands of our growing region,” HHS said on its website.
The new hospital is 80 per cent larger than the old one, the network said. It will have 55 inpatient beds, six maternal and newborn suites and eight bassinets. It will also feature an indoor ambulance bay and Indigenous healing space.
The hospital will be the first in Canada to have all single-inpatient rooms, HHS said, calling that the “gold standard for infection control, privacy, and comfort.”
Work to decommission the old hospital will start in 2026 and should finish by the end of the year, HHS said.
The premier’s office and Ontario Ministry of Health said this is one of “more than 50” hospital projects the government is investing in over the next 10 years.
Proximity of care gives local resident ‘peace of mind’
Amy Falk, who lives in Grimsby, is “super excited” about the new hospital. She recently bought a home in the community five minutes away from West Lincoln Memorial.
Falk is expecting to give birth in May and said the new hospital opening is one of the reasons her family will stay in Grimsby rather than move elsewhere.
She had been planning to deliver in Burlington or Oakville but now plans to do so closer to home.
The option “gave me more peace of mind,” she told CBC Hamilton. “Long term, having that near us makes us feel a lot more comfortable.”