Founded in 1860 as the House of Refuge, Bridgepoint Health currently focuses on providing a continuum of care for people who require specialized complex care and rehabilitation.  Bridgepoint Health employs approximately 1,200 staff and consists of Bridgepoint Hospital, the Bridgepoint Family Health Team, the Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation, and the Bridgepoint Health Foundation. 

Bridgepoint Health has signed a contract with Plenary Health to design, build, finance and maintain a new hospital specifically for patients affected by multiple life-long illnesses such as advanced diabetes with complications, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, stroke and other complex diseases.  

The new Bridgepoint Hospital, located near Broadview Avenue and Gerrard Street East in Toronto, has been designed to achieve LEED® certification, in support of the government's commitment to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.    

The new hospital will be 10 storeys high, have a capacity for 472 beds and be approximately 680,000 square feet in size.  Additionally, the historic Don Jail will be incorporated into the new site. It will be refurbished on the interior, preserving its historical significance, into the administrative and education centre for the hospital.  It will be open to the public, on a prescribed basis. 

The new hospital will offer:

patient rooms designed specifically for complex care and complex rehabilitation needs;

  • new therapy and rehabilitation space on every floor providing patients with improved access to therapy;
  • new clinical space serving in-patients and out-patients and offering access to leading clinicians;
  • increased room space per patient to meet provincial standards; and
  • classrooms and a lecture hall to support clinical education, and research. 

The new hospital will relieve the congestion of the current hospital building, upgrade patient treatment capabilities through the use of advanced medical and information technologies and enhance Bridgepoint Health's teaching and research capabilities. 

Construction of the physical facility will be completed in early 2013, and it is anticipated that patient care will begin in the spring of 2013.