Kincardine hospital redevelopment project continues to advance

South Bruce Grey Health Centre officials have completed the Stage 2 submission of the Ontario Ministry of Health’s five-stage capital-planning process for the Kincardine hospital redevelopment project.

A press release, issued Thursday by the health centre, states that the 1,800-page report was endorsed by the board of directors at its regular meeting March 3, and has been submitted to the health ministry and Ontario Health.

The first phase of the redevelopment project, which was included in the 2020 Ontario Budget as one of the government’s health-care investments in the planning, features an expansion of the emergency department, diagnostic imaging, laboratory and lobby services, with an estimated cost of $65-million.

The second phase of the redevelopment, which will not occur for several years, will include the inpatient unit and operating room. This portion of the project is estimated at $113-million.

During the design of the functional program and block diagrams for Stage 2, user group meetings with various stakeholder groups were held to better understand workflows and future needs of each department, states the press release.

As part of this process, the square footage for the emergency department, radioactive decontamination suite, diagnostic imaging and laboratory were expanded from the scope that was proposed in Stage 1 of the project, to better meet the needs of the community in the future. With the Major Component Replacement (MCR) project at Bruce Power, the population of the Kincardine area will increase significantly in the coming years, with a corresponding increase in demand on the Kincardine hospital’s services.

Also included in the Stage 2 submission is the calculation of the local share fund-raising requirement, determined based on the total project cost.

The Kincardine and Community Health Care Foundation has been working closely with the hospital board since the start of the redevelopment project in 2017, and has two foundation board member representatives on the health centre’s Kincardine Redevelopment Oversight Committee. The foundation has committed to fund the estimated $10.1-million local share for Phase 1 through a capital campaign to be launched following ministry approval of Stage 2.

To support the development of the Stage 2 functional program submission, the health ministry provided a one-time capital-planning grant of up to $1,520,000, bringing the total one-time ministry funding for this project up to $2,020,000. Kincardine and Huron-Kinloss have also supported the planning costs of the project, contributing $300,000 and $50,000, respectively, in 2016.

The next steps for the project, after Stage 2 approval, are the preliminary design and drawings for the space (Stage 3), the development of working drawings (Stage 4), and tendering and awarding construction contracts (Stage 5).