Province decides to add another floor to the hospital along with more beds and operating rooms.

November 26, 2013

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON.  The way Mayor Goldring saw it – Burlington is basically getting a new hospital.  The provincial government announced today that funding increases will amount to “hundreds of millions” more for the rebuild of the hospital

Health Minister Deb Matthews was in Burlington to announce major changes to Joseph Brant Hospital’s expansion project, but wouldn’t talk money or exactly how much the province will contribute to help fund those changes.  What was a $312 million project is being re-scoped – up.

While the real number of beds being added along with the number of operating rooms wasn’t clear Mayor Goldring reported that beds were going to be 172 up from the previously planned 92 and nine new operating rooms.

Architects rendering of what the re-build of the Joseph Brant Hospital will look like. The angle is looking east into the city. The structure has had an additional floor added.

$60 million of that $312 is coming directly out of the taxpayers’ pockets – it shows up on your tax bill with another $60 million being raised by the hospital foundation that has done rather well in the recent past.

Matthews and hospital officials said they can’t be specific about how much more money the province is giving the hospital expansion because it would tip the hands of the construction companies bidding for the work.  That’s a bit of a stretch – the major contractors are a lot closer to the people who determine those numbers than the taxpayers whose pockets the money comes out of

The hospital announced the plan’s major upgrades mean adding another storey to what was originally a six-storey newly constructed tower, adding beds although it was unclear how many are additional rather than revamped or what the hospital called “renovated” beds. The changes will also mean the emergency department and three floors of current surgical beds will move to the tower now.

Matthews and hospital officials said the changes essentially allow parts of the project that were to consist of renovations to now be built brand new, such as in the case of the emergency department.

An architects rendering of the new entrance to the Joseph Brant Hospital which will now face the lake. The entrance will be off LAkeshore Road with the new parking lot just to the west of the hospital.

“As planning got underway, the hospital realized it would get better value to build new rather than renovate,” Matthews said. The new emergency department for example, will be state of the art in meeting the needs of the community”, she said.

“The emergency department is the public face of the hospital…It’s better value (to build new) and it will better meet the needs of the community,” she added.

Jo Brant CEO Eric Vandewal said the main benefit of a new emergency department will be reduced waiting times — the same benefit mentioned when emergency renovations were talked of as part of this major expansion, and again in 2001 during a $12.6 million expansion and enhancement of the emergency department and cancer clinic.  Clearly saying that wait times will be reduced is what the public wants to hear.

Joseph  Brant Hospital CEO Eric Vandewal

Vandewal, who has an earned reputation as a hospital builder, did very good work in Mississauga before he came to Burlington.  One could almost imagine the arguments he took to Queen’s Park telling them he could deliver much better value if he was to build new rather than upgrade an older facility.

The hospital will hold a “topping off” event very early in December to mark the completion of the first phase of the Halton McMaster  Family Medicine  Centre structure, which is to have medical facilities on the ground floor with three parking levels above.  The structure is being built to allow for an additional level of parking at a later date.

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