Delayed Vaughan hospital ‘likely’ to open for treating patients in early 2021

Progress on long-awaited Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital derailed by labour disruptions last summer, Altaf Stationwala, Mackenzie Health president and CEO says

Yorkregion.com
April 23, 2020
Adam Martin-Robbins

If you thought new rules allowing construction work on the Vaughan hospital to happen around the clock meant the highly anticipated health-care facility would open early --think again.

In fact, it appears unlikely patients will be getting medical treatment by the end of this year, as originally anticipated.

Altaf Stationwala, Mackenzie Health president and CEO, said in an email that "24-hour construction activity" (permitted April 8 by the provincial government for "essential construction projects," in response to the coronavirus pandemic) allows for "enhanced opportunities for workplace safety through physical distancing and staggered shifts" and then confirmed the hospital doors probably won't open to patients until next year. 

"With our construction partners, and Infrastructure Ontario, we continue to monitor the COVID-19 impacts on the project," he wrote in an email. "Once the project is complete and Mackenzie Health has possession of the new hospital, we will be making all efforts to ensure it becomes operational as soon as reasonably possible and that our teams can safely care for patients within its walls. This will likely be in early 2021."

Promenade Group donates $5 million to new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital
The opening of the long-awaited Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital was knocked off schedule last summer by a nine-week strike by unionized sheet metal workers and a weeklong strike by plumbers and pipefitters, Stationwala told Vaughan councillors during a project update March 9.

Once construction reaches the point known as "substantial completion," Stationwala told councillors, the hospital can begin a four-and-a-half month "burn-in period" during which time staff and equipment will be moved into the facility.

When it opens, the Vaughan hospital is expected to help take pressure off neighbouring hospitals struggling with overcrowding, such as Mackenzie Health Richmond Hill hospital. | Steve Somerville/Torstar

When it opens, the $1.6-billion facility --touted as Canada's first smart hospital --will be equipped with 350 beds with capacity for up to 550 beds.

For many residents and health-care officials, opening day can't come soon enough.

In his update to council, Stationwala pointed to a recent CBC News analysis that found Mackenzie Health Richmond Hill Hospital ranks among Ontario's most overcrowded hospital.

Opening the Vaughan hospital, he said, will help relieve pressure on the strained Richmond Hill site as well as neighbouring hospitals also struggling with overcrowding.

"We do have a local solution (to overcrowding), which is adding a brand new facility that will not only help the immediate geography of Richmond Hill, Vaughan and King, but will also provide relief to other organizations that are over capacity like Southlake (Regional Health Centre) in Newmarket and (William) Osler in Brampton."