Officials with Windsor Regional Hospital are hopeful a new provincial government will not negatively impact plans for the proposed new mega hospital.
President and CEO David Musyj says he isn't concerned the government, soon to be led by Doug Ford and his PC party, will jeopardize their plans.
“The Conservatives say they support the project and if anything, they stated that it should have happened years ago."
The future Regional Acute Care Hospital for Windsor-Essex would be located at County Road 42 and the 9th concession near the airport.
The location has been criticized by many residents in the community who would prefer it be downtown. Musyj says an urgent care department will remain in the city’s core, but a decision has not been made about where it will be located.
That will be part of the design and planning process, stages two and three of the project. That is expected to take three years, and cost between $20 and $30-million.
The overall price-tag of the region's new acute care hospital is expected to be around $2-billion.
Musyj tells CTV News he is looking forward to working closer with Reuben Devlin, Doug Ford's health consultant from Humber hospital who has visited Windsor on multiple occasions.
“There's a lot of similarities between what Humber did and what we are about to do,” says Musyj. “We are moving from two sites to one, they moved three sites to one."
The Ontario Health Coalition has launched a sign campaign, encouraging residents to vote for accessible public health care in the city's downtown core.
The Essex County Health Coalition also warns the new hospital could hurt Erie Shores Health Care in Leamington.
Infrastructure Ontario has been appointed to lead the procurement process for construction of the new hospital. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) is scheduled to be issued in 2021, but that is subject to change.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care says the new facility will serve more than 400,000 people in the region, providing advanced acute care services designed to meet the changing health care needs of local residents.
Officials say the move of acute mental health beds to the Tayfour campus to create a regional centre of excellence for mental health will also continue to be a part of the discussion.
