Frequently Asked Questions

Grand River Hospital (GRH) and St. Mary’s General Hospital (SMGH) worked together to plan for the future of hospital-based services in Kitchener-Waterloo as part of the broader health care system in Waterloo Region and beyond.

The new merged hospital, Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN, pronounced wren) continues to make the construction of a new hospital in north Waterloo a priority to build a regional system of care that locates services and finite resources where they can most effectively respond to the needs of the community, within the most patient focused and operationally efficient manner possible.

This includes ensuring health care infrastructure can meet the needs of the local community, which is one of the fastest growing regions in Ontario, and the population is expected to grow from 600,000 to 923,000 by 2051, an increase of 45%.

The two predecessor hospitals had a long history of partnership, including, though not limited to, a joint chief of staff and medical staff, shared health information system (electronic medical record) and digital services, shared clinical support services such as lab, medical imaging, and pharmacy, collaborations on COVID-19 response and the KW4 Ontario Health Team. They worked together, along with the community they serve, their health system partners, and Cambridge Memorial Hospital to plan and build health care infrastructure for the future.

We are currently in the preliminary planning stages. In April 2022, the Government of Ontario provided Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital with a $5-million capital planning grant to support planning for a new shared state-of-the-art hospital and to modernize some of our existing hospital buildings. In May 2022, we submitted a joint proposal to the Ministry of Health which is subject to modification following engagements with the Ministry and the community.

We are currently in the process of identifying a site for the future new acute care hospital. Next steps include finalizing the selected site, further identifying the service needs in our community and further exploring how to deliver this project on the fastest timeline.

These projects have multiple stages of planning and can take, on average, 10 years or longer to complete. We will continue to provide high-quality care across both of our hospitals as we put plans in place to modernize and expand hospital infrastructure for our growing community.

Based on our growing population, we expect to add more patient beds and expand acute care, complex continuing care, and rehabilitation programs. Our planning grant enables us to determine what services we will need in the decades to come, the best locations to deliver these services in collaboration with our community partners and design service models that leverage leading practices, technology and other innovations.

This is about creating a regional system of care in Waterloo Region and beyond to ensure that our patients have timely access to high-quality, leading-edge care close to home.

Input from the communities we serve is critically important as we plan new hospital infrastructure. In determining the site for the new acute care hospital, we engaged over 12,000 members of our community to determine the site criteria.

In the Summer and Fall of 2024, we implemented an extensive engagement strategy to get input from community members to help determine the New Hospital Building Vision.

In the Fall of 2024, we reached out to the community to help us decide on a new name for our merged hospital organization, Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN).

We will provide many opportunities for the community to be involved in the planning process and provide input. You can subscribe to receive email updates on the project here https://futureofcaretogether.ca.

In July 2024, the predecessor hospitals announced the new hospital will be built on land that is part of the David Johnston Research + Technology Park at the University of Waterloo.

Currently, the hospital and the University of Waterloo are partnering to plan development of land located west of Bearinger Road and Hagey Boulevard in Waterloo for the hospital’s new acute hospital.

The site was identified as the preferred location for the new hospital following a 10-month property review process, led by an independent Site Selection Panel which included engagement with over 12,000 members of our community.

Through this partnership, the hospital and the University of Waterloo will continue to build on years of collaboration to bring education, innovation and healthcare delivery closer together than ever before.

A Site Selection Panel was assembled by the Boards of St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital. The Panel led an independent and transparent process which evaluated land options and determined a preferred site for the new hospital. The Panel’s work was supported by the necessary technical and subject matter expertise and an independent Fairness Advisor to make the best decision for the community.

The Site Selection Panel made a recommendation on a preferred site for the new hospital to the Building the Future of Care subcommittee and the Boards of Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital, which were responsible for overseeing the project.

On July 22, the hospitals announced the new hospital will be built on land that is part of the David Johnston Research + Technology Park at the University of Waterloo. This site was selected because it not only met but exceed the site selection criteria. The full list of criteria used to identify and evaluate sites can be found here.

Waterloo Regional Health Network’s (WRHN) current sites, Queen’s Blvd. (St. Mary’s General Hospital), Midtown (GRH KW) and Chicopee (GRH Freeport) provide excellent patient care, but we’ve significantly outgrown our aging and outdated buildings.

The current proposal to the Ministry of Health includes an urgent care centre and ambulatory care including an outpatient surgical centre at WRHN @ Midtown (KW) and expanded rehab and mental health services at WRHN @ Chicopee (Freeport). All sites are governed by the new, single organization following the confirmed merger of the predecessor hospitals (GRH and SMGH).

The future of the current WRHN @ Queen’s Blvd. (SMGH) when current services transferred to the new acute hospital and Midtown Site, in about ten years, will be determined through extensive community engagement led by St. Joseph’s Health System.

While we continue to plan for a new and renewed future hospital facilities for 10 years and beyond, continued investment in our current sites remain critically important to ensure we can continue to provide high-quality patient care.

WRHN provides excellent patient care, but we’ve significantly outgrown our aging and outdated buildings. WRHN @ Queen’s Blvd (SMGH) is almost 100 years old. Due to its current infrastructure, it is difficult for the hospital site to meet current growing capacity demands making the site unable to meet future needs.

WRHN @ Queen’s Blvd. will continue to provide vital hospital services to our communities just as it has for nearly 100 years as WRHN builds the new hospital, modernizes existing Midtown and Chicopee Sites, to expand capacity and services.

Decisions regarding the future of the hospital building will be determined through extensive community engagement led by St. Joseph’s Health System, with the hospital, health system partners, our communities, and the government.

At this point, an estimated cost for the overall project has not been determined. Estimated costing will be established later in the capital planning process as we determine the size and scope of the new hospital, as well as upgrade work required to modernize existing hospital buildings.