Site Preparation Underway

WOODSTOCK - Integrated Team Solutions (ITS) has signed a contract with Woodstock General Hospital to build, finance and maintain a new facility that will replace the existing Woodstock General Hospital. Site preparation will begin next week.

Woodstock General Hospital will have a new state-of-the-art health care facility with capacity of up to 178 beds. This new facility will provide acute in-patient, ambulatory, rehabilitation and complex continuing care programs and services. It will provide patients and staff with a high quality healing environment and the latest technology in patient care and communications. At three-storeys high and 350,000 square feet, the new hospital will more than double the size of the current facility. Health care professionals will offer a full-range of clinical services and programs, including:

  • Physiotherapy and rehabilitation services
  • Cardio-respiratory services
  • Pharmacy and laboratory services
  • A new inpatient rehabilitation program, in partnership with community agencies;
  • A diagnostic Imaging (DI) department using the latest in digital imaging technologies for diagnosis and to reduce patient wait times
  • Surgical services
  • Inpatient medical/surgical beds
  • Critical care and complex continuing care
  • A maternal/child/women's health unit
  • Inpatient and outpatient acute mental health services.

“Once complete, this new hospital will improve access to important health services so that Woodstock residents will get the care they need, when they need it,” said David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

ITS will receive annual payments from Woodstock General Hospital over a 30 year period. Payments cover construction, building maintenance, lifecycle repair and renewal and project financing. Lifecycle refers to ensuring that heating and cooling systems, windows, floors and roofing structures, for example, are kept in excellent working condition over the 30 year period. The payments are like a fixed-rate mortgage with maintenance and repair expenses included and will total approximately $599.3 million after 30 years. In today's dollars this is equivalent to approximately $268.7 million.

Including other non-capital and fixed costs such as replacement furniture, equipment, permits, architectural and engineering fees, transaction fees, project management fees and operating costs related to facilities maintenance, the total cost of the Woodstock General Hospital project is approximately $685 million.

The ITS team includes EllisDon, LPF Infrastructure Fund, Honeywell, CIT, Sunlife Assurance Company, Great West Life and Industrial Alliance.

“Patients can now look forward with confidence to a state of the art hospital to match the wonderful care provided by the healthcare professionals at Woodstock General Hospital,” said John Wilkinson, Minister of Research & Innovation and MPP for Perth-Wellington."

“This is an exciting time for us as we get ready to break ground for the new Woodstock General Hospital,” stated Natasa Veljovic, President and CEO of Woodstock General Hospital. “It will be rewarding to see activity on the hospital site, as cranes and construction crews build our new hospital.”

“Once complete, our new facility, will allow us to expand programs, recruit new staff and physically improve our delivery of quality healthcare,” said Glen McDonald, Chair of the Board of Trust.

EllisDon will begin preparing the site for construction within the following week. The official groundbreaking will take place on November 2, 2008.

The new Woodstock General Hospital project will be delivered under the provincial government's Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) delivery model. AFP transfers responsibility of most risks related to designing and constructing the facility, arranging financing for its construction and maintaining the building for a 30-year period to ITS. This ensures the new hospital is built on time, on budget and is well maintained over the 30-year period.

A Value for Money (VFM) report and the project agreement will be posted online at www.infrastructureontario.ca within weeks.

Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care are working with Woodstock General Hospital to develop the new hospital, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable. Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on budget.

Visit www.infrastructureontario.ca for more information.

Contacts:

Jennifer Sclisizzi
Infrastructure Ontario
416-325-7409

Natasa Veljovic
Woodstock General Hospital
519-421-4211

Vicki Davey
Woodstock General Hospital
519-421-4226

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