All three Scarborough hospitals, including emergency departments, will remain open

The Scarborough Health Network (SHN) Board of Directors unanimously approved the recommendation to integrate the Women’s and Children’s program at the Centenary and General hospitals, at their January 24 meeting.

The Birchmount hospital is not closing; this decision is limited to how SHN delivers its Women’s and Children’s services. Birchmount will remain a vibrant community hospital and SHN is committed to reinvesting in programs and services there.

“The Board made this decision based on research data and medical input from a team of people who know the program best: physicians, midwives, nurses, and patients and families,” said Maureen Adamson, Board chair.

“This decision is a short- to medium-term complement to SHN’s planning process for the future of SHN’s facilities. In our ongoing efforts to be open and transparent we will be posting the full report and recommendations on our public website.”

SHN’s three hospitals will remain open as community hospitals until new infrastructure and plans are in place to design the future of SHN’s facilities through Master Planning.

“We will continue to have both on-site services and on-call services at Birchmount, including paediatrics and anesthesia, to support the needs of patients who come to our emergency departments,” said Dr. Dick Zoutman, Chief of Staff.

“We will also ensure all of our hospitals support each another to provide our community with exemplary care. The women and children of Scarborough will continue to receive safe and high-quality care, no matter which hospital they visit.”

Now begins a 6-12 month process to refine and re-design the Women’s and Children’s program. SHN will create a program integration committee to plan and manage the transition process.

As always, SHN is committed to engaging with the Scarborough community, primary care physicians, patients, and families to determine how to best serve the needs of the women and children of Scarborough. Feedback and ideas about SHN’s clinical services review process may be shared by email: communications@shn.ca.