Humber River Regional Hospital has hit a significant achievement in its quest to build a new state-of-the-art hospital.
On Thursday May 27, the hospital released a request for qualifications (RFQ), the first step in choosing who will design, build, finance and maintain the new hospital at Keele Street and Wilson Avenue."We are thrilled to reach this important milestone in our plan to design and build Ontario's first digital hospital," Humber River president Dr. Rueben Devlin said."It will be a lean, green building, incorporating the latest in environmental sustainability concepts. It will be patient-family- and community-friendly, bringing a new way of thinking to hospital design in Ontario."The 656-bed hospital will feature expanded emergency services, increased specialized outpatient services, modern diagnostic equipment for better patient diagnoses and treatments, updated infections disease containment systems to monitor and prevent a broad range of infections and many environmentally friendly features.It will employ 3,300 staff and 600 doctors.The RFQ submissions will be reviewed with an eye to determining firms that are able to design, build and maintain a facility of the size and complexity of the new hospital.The next step will see teams respond to a request for proposals in the fall.Several politicians congratulated Humber River on reaching this stage."Today, we move another step toward greater access to healthcare," York Centre MPP Monte Kwinter said."The new hospital will be a modern state-of-the-art facility and bring tremendous benefits to residents in our community."York-South Weston MPP Laura Albanese said it is encouraging to see the progress being made with the new hospital.York West MPP Mario Sergio agreed."Humber River Regional Hospital is a major redevelopment to improve local health care and expand services we rely on close to home," he said.