The new hospital currently under construction in Markdale is getting a few more beds than initially planned.
According to a release from Grey Bruce Health Services, the new hospital will now have eight inpatient beds as opposed to the five-bed model approved by the Ministry of Health in February 2021.
“Fortunately, we included flex space into the building plans so that down the road, if we received approval for more beds, we could add them without putting an addition onto the hospital,” says GBHS President and CEO Gary Sims in a statement. “We are very pleased that the Ministry supported our request for an expansion, which will enable our staff and physicians to support more patients from the community.”
The additional beds are not expected to impact the planned completion date of the new Markdale hospital, which is the spring of 2023. Grey Bruce Health Services says it will open to the public by the end of that year, once medical equipment and furniture have been installed, and staff have been fully trained in the new environment.
All existing services will continue at the existing Markdale hospital until then.
GBHS says the next milestone for the construction project will be the completion of structural steel and installation of the steel deck for the roof. Currently, it says the building is about 30 per cent finished.
