Frequently Asked Questions

Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital are working 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.

Our hospitals have 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. We are working together, along with the community we serve, our health system partners, and Cambridge Memorial Hospital to plan and build health care infrastructure for the future.

Collaborating on this project will allow us to build something better together and provide increased access to care and services than either of us could accomplish alone.

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 the future 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. Soon we will be reaching out to the community to help us decide on a new name for our merged hospital organization and we look forward to hearing your thoughts! 
 
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 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 Hospitals and the University of Waterloo are partnering to plan development of land located west of Bearinger Road and Hagey Boulevard in Waterloo for the Hospitals’ new acute care 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 Hospitals 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. 
 
The Hospitals are now working with the University of Waterloo to determine how the land will be developed to house the future hospital.

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 joint 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 are 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.

St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital 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 the current Grand River mid-town location and expanded rehab and mental health services at Freeport. All sites would be governed by the new, single organization following the planned merger of Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital.

The current St. Mary’s site would no longer provide acute care. The future of the site will be determined through the planning process which includes extensive community engagement and engagement with 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 hospitals remains critically important to ensure we can continue to provide high-quality patient care.

St. Mary’s General Hospital and Grand River Hospital provide excellent patient care, but we’ve significantly outgrown our aging and outdated buildings. St. Mary’s is almost 100 years old. Due to its current infrastructure, it is difficult for St. Mary’s General Hospital to meet current growing capacity demands making the site unable to meet future needs.

St. Mary’s will continue to provide vital hospital services to our communities just as it has for nearly 100 years as both hospitals share new and modern hospital facilities with expanded capacity and services.

Decisions regarding the future of the St. Mary’s hospital building will be determined later in the planning process through engagement with both hospitals, our health system partners, our communities, the St. Joesph’s Health System and the government.

Building on decades of partnership and collaboration, Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital have agreed to begin the process of a voluntary merger. Please see our Joining Together page for more information.

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 shared hospital, as well as upgrade work required to modernize existing hospital buildings.