Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott rose in the Ontario Legislature on Oct. 4 to highlight the progress being made in the planning for a new Groves Memorial Community Hospital.
“The planning for our new Groves Memorial Community Hospital in the Township of Centre Wellington continues to gain momentum,” Arnott informed the legislature. “Recently the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network endorsed the program and service elements which Groves had submitted, and the LHIN urged the ministry to prioritize the determination of projected volumes and bed numbers.”
“Next steps include working with Infrastructure Ontario on cost estimates for design and construction, and meetings with hospital staff and stakeholders to help shape the project design,” he continued. “An architectural firm has been selected and hired, and we believe we are on track to begin the tendering process by 2014/15, which was the date announced by the province last August.”
Afterwards, Arnott also emphasized the need to support ongoing fundraising efforts.
“The Groves Hospital Foundation continues its good work, with creative and innovative fundraising ideas have attracted international attention. Their work goes on, as long as the need does,” he added.
A press release from Arnott’s office states the MPP has been a strong advocate for the Groves hospital redevelopment project for years.
He has both written and spoken to successive ministers of health on multiple occasions, given numerous speeches in the legislature, and even initiated a debate and vote in the House to draw attention to the project.
Plans for a new Groves Memorial Community Hospital building on a new site were announced in August, 2011.
Improved patient care and safety through a modernized layout and better coordination between key clinical areas is a focus of the project.
Groves Memorial Community Hospital is an acute care facility providing a wide range of services to about 34,500 people. The hospital, currently 44 beds and 277 staff, and treats more than 68,000 people each year.
The new hospital will be located in the Aboyne area of Centre Wellington between Fergus and Elora, serving a catchment area of Centre Wellington, Alma, Arthur, Belwood, parts of Mapleton, parts of Wellington North and surrounding rural areas.
