A new single site acute care hospital is coming to the Muskoka Region.
At a special meeting on Wednesday night, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare board members unanimously accepted a recommendation to move forward with a single site acute care hospital, which will be centrally located in Muskoka.
The decision means Huntsville District Memorial Hospital and South Muskoka Memorial Hospital will become surplus and will eventually be replaced by this new facility. A location has not been specified.
The board will now take their decision to Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long Term Care for approval.
The committee tasked with making the decision had three proposals to choose from. The first was the one they chose – to create a single site acute care hospital.
The second would have seen HDMH become the site for ambulatory care and SMMH acute care, or HDMH taking on acute care and SMMH ambulatory. The last option would see both hospitals maintained through renovations of old buildings and the construction of new ones.
The decision is part of a 50 year plan to meet requirements laid out by the Ministry of Health.
