An aerial view of the Kingston General Hospital (KGH) campus, a Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) site. Photo via KHSC.
Editor’s note: The following is a submitted letter to the editor. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Kingstonist.
To the editor,
Across Ontario, the demand for health care is changing in ways that are already impossible to ignore. Our population is growing and aging. More people are living with complex health conditions. Advances in medicine, technology and digital care are creating new opportunities, while financial and workforce pressures continue to challenge health systems across the country.
These realities are not up for debate. They are already shaping the future of health care in our region. What remains open for discussion is how we respond. That is why Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) is asking patients, families, staff, physicians, partners, and community members to share their opinions to help form our next strategic plan.
KHSC serves patients from a region stretching from Peterborough to Cornwall and north to James Bay. We have a unique role as the only acute care hospital for the greater Kingston community, and the only provincially designated academic teaching hospital between Toronto and Ottawa. We provide a broad range of specialized provincial services, caring for the smallest patients in our NICU, providing minimally invasive heart surgery, and offering personalized cancer treatments, just to name a few.
The decisions we make will affect more than Kingston. They will influence access to specialized services, medical education, research, and health-system partnerships for a region of more than 750,000 people. We know southeastern Ontario will continue to need a strong academic health sciences centre that provides specialized care, trains future health professionals, advances research and innovation, and works to improve health and well-being.
We will need to continue improving how care is delivered, strengthen partnerships across southeastern Ontario, and make better use of technology to connect patients with expertise closer to home. We will need to support and grow the regional health-care workforce while continuing to advance research, education, and innovation.
Planning for future redevelopment is also part of that conversation.
Our hospital facilities were built for a different era of medicine and a smaller population. Modern infrastructure will be important in supporting future models of care. But a new hospital is not the vision in itself. It is only one part of a broader effort to ensure people across southeastern Ontario have access to high-quality care, cutting-edge research, health education and innovation for decades to come. The strategic planning process also considers how care is delivered, how services are coordinated and how KHSC works with partners throughout the region.
The reality is that resources are finite, and patient needs continue to grow. Every major decision involves trade-offs. Choices about where we focus our efforts, how we invest, and how we organize care will shape the future of our health system.
That is why your input matters. Whether you have received care at KHSC, supported a loved one through illness, worked in health care or simply live in this region, your experience provides us with an important perspective. Understanding what matters most to patients, families, and communities will help us make better decisions for the future.
The future is already taking shape. What remains to be decided are the choices, priorities, and investments that will help us get there. That’s what we want to hear from you. To learn more and share your perspective, visit www.KingstonHSC.ca/future.
Dr. David Pichora
President & CEO
Kingston Health Sciences Center (KHSC)
Kingston Health Sciences Centre is made up of Kingston General Hospital, Hotel Dieu Hospital, the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario, the KHSC Research Institute, Breast Imaging Kingston and dozens of satellite clinics throughout the region.
Share your views! Submit a Letter to the Editor or an Op/Ed article to Kingstonist’s Editor-in-Chief Tori Stafford at [email protected].