RVH selects Innisfil site for South Campus expansion
Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) has selected a site in Innisfil for its future South Campus.
The health care facility made the announcement on October 13. The 83-acre site selected for development is located at the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Innisfil Beach Road.
“This is a historic moment as we take this important step in bringing care closer to home for the people of south Simcoe County,” said Charlotte Wallis, Chair of RVH’s board of directors.
The site is also located adjacent to the Innisfil civic campus and the Rizzardo Health & Wellness Centre where RVH currently operates a variety of outpatient clinics.
“Ten technical expert reviews concluded this is the ideal location for a hospital,” said Janice Skot, RVH president and CEO. “RVH’s South Campus will bring significant economic growth, housing, new businesses and most importantly, enhanced healthcare services closer to home for generations to come.”
The first phase of the South Campus, which RVH intends to build within 10 years, will be a health hub that focuses on outpatient care, and includes an urgent care centre. The facility will expand over time to become a full-service hospital with a 24/7 emergency department 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.
As work proceeds on the South Campus, RVH will double the size of the North Campus, including a new nine-storey inpatient tower. RVH says the campuses are completely interdependent; one project cannot proceed without the other.
“We are thrilled that Innisfil has been selected as the home of RVH’s South Campus – bringing healthcare closer to home for residents of Innisfil and south Simcoe,” says Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin. “We are excited to work with RVH on this endeavour as we continue to support the health and wellness of our growing community.”
RVH says the South Campus project is essential to meet the booming region’s health care needs. More than 170,000 new residents are projected to move to south Simcoe County by 2041.
“RVH is already bursting at the seams. Prior to the pandemic its medicine bed occupancy rate consistently exceeded 115 percent. Patients were routinely cared for in hallways,” said Skot. “The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that we cannot go back to hallway medicine. We must move forward with our expansion plans as soon as possible."
With the location announcement, RVH will launch Phase 2 of its engagement plan with site-specific consultation.
There is currently no listing for the RVH South Campus project in Infrastructure Ontario’s October 2021 Market Update document.