Waypoint expansion to add 20 new inpatient-acute care beds

An expansion plan in the works for the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care will see 20 new inpatient-acute care beds added to the facility.

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced the expansion on Monday to increase capacity and keep crisis patients closer to home.

"We are adding capacity to meet demand by introducing and expanding innovative new programs," Jones said.

Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care President and CEO Dr. Nadiya Sunderji said the facility was already operating with 14 temporary beds on top of its 20-bed capacity unit.

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With the expansion, those 14 beds will become permanent, and six new beds will be added.

"This is such an important milestone towards delivering safer care," Dr. Sunderji said. "It will help relieve pressure on our eight partnered hospitals and emergency departments throughout the region."

Dr. Sunderji said the new unit would also expand access to specialized urgent mental health and addiction services for patients and their families, making accessing care close to home easier.

"The unit includes the first psychiatric ICU beds in our region for individuals with increased risk due to severe mental illness," she added.

Waypoint hopes to begin construction next year, but a tender process has yet to be completed, meaning a timeline is unclear.

The province could not confirm to CTV News a dollar figure for how much the expansion will cost, nor the cost of each new mental health bed.