Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre’s (RVH) future South Campus is moving ahead with the announcement that the Town of Innisfil’s request for a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) was approved by the Hon. Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. This will bring enhanced access to healthcare and new jobs to the region. The MZO accelerates this project.
RVH’s 83-acre South Campus site, at the south-west corner of Yonge Street and Innisfil Beach Road, was determined following an extensive three-year selection process, supported by ten third-party technical reviews and informed by 63,500 community consultation interactions with a wide range of stakeholders, including, Indigenous partners, environmental groups, vulnerable populations, healthcare partners and patients.
“Community consultation has been foundational to RVH’s planning and for three years we’ve heard from stakeholders in every corner of our region. We understand residents of south Simcoe County want the South Campus built as soon as possible, but developing a hospital is complex and timelines can be long,” says Janice Skot, RVH president and CEO. “The MZO provides provincial planning certainty that the South Campus can be built at this location as we continue to follow strict planning criteria. It also well-positions RVH to more quickly to secure provincial approvals for the plan which will improve the healthcare of area residents for generations to come.”
The South Campus is part of RVH’s integrated “one system; two site” capital plan which will evolve over the next two decades. The first phase of the South Campus, to be built within ten years, will be a Health Hub, focusing on outpatient care, including an Urgent Care Centre. It will expand to become a full-service hospital, with a 24/7 Emergency Department, operating rooms and a birthing unit within 20 years. At maturity, the South Campus will be about the size of the current North Campus on Georgian Drive, seeing 350,000 patient visits each year.
“This MZO to accelerate the creation of the new South Campus Health Hub is yet another way our government is helping to get shovels in the ground for more hospitals, housing, and long-term care facilities, and build a stronger Ontario for everyone,” says Minister Clark. “We will continue to provide our municipal partners, like the Town of Innisfil, with the tools and resources they need to deliver vital projects to their community.”
At the same time, RVH’s current North Campus will double in size, including a new nine-storey inpatient building. The North and South Campus are completely interdependent; one can’t proceed without the other.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us how important it is to have access to hospital beds and healthcare close to home. The future South Campus will change the healthcare landscape in Simcoe County and ensure the care and well-being of our residents continues to be met long into the future,” says Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin. “We are grateful to have the support from the province in bringing this critical infrastructure to our community.”
Area municipalities have been involved in RVH’s planning since the beginning and Board Chair Charlotte Wallis notes, “RVH and the Town of Innisfil have a shared vision of healthcare in south Simcoe County that will address the region’s growing needs. The recent announcement by Premier Ford of a $2.5 million capital grant means we can move forward with our next steps on planning for the South and North Campuses.”
RVH and the Town of Innisfil continue to seek feedback from residents on the South Campus through their websites RVHPlanourfuture.ca and Get Involved Innisfil.
