Ontario Building State-of-the-Art Critical Care Tower at Sunnybrook

$5 million provincial investment will add new patient beds and expanded cancer treatment programs

Critical Care Tower at Sunnybrook

TORONTO — As part of its plan to stay open, the Ontario government is investing $5 million to expand and redevelop Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. This funding will support the planning for a new, state-of-the-art critical care tower that will add more beds and expand much-needed health care services for families in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding communities as the province continues to build a stronger, more resilient health system that is better able to respond to crisis.

“Expanding services at Sunnybrook with a new critical care tower is one more way our government is building a stronger, more resilient health care system that will keep Ontario open,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “With this investment, we’re continuing to ensure that patients and families have access to the high-quality care they deserve now and for generations to come.”

Sunnybrook’s new critical care tower will bring the hospital’s critical care units together under one roof. Based on early planning, the hospital intends to add over 100 new beds so that the new tower will have a total of approximately 260 patient beds. This is planned to include over 100 critical care beds and over 100 medical and surgical beds to make it easier and more convenient for families to access high-quality, integrated care when they need it.

As part of the redevelopment, the hospital is also planning to modernize its existing infrastructure and enhance health services. This includes expanding its complex malignant hematology program to add stem cell transplant services and increasing radiation therapy so that more patients have access to lifesaving cancer treatment. The redevelopment will be the starting point of future projects to renovate existing spaces, enhance more programs and services and build capacity so that the world-class team at Sunnybrook can continue to provide high-quality care long into the future.

“Sunnybrook is one of the largest sources of critical care capacity in the province and this investment will help ensure the province’s safety net is there when people need it most,” said Dr. Andy Smith, President and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. “We are incredibly grateful for this grant and look forward to move from planning to building this tremendous resource for all Ontarians.”

Ontario is working with Sunnybrook on the early stages of the planning process, which include identifying programming, operational and space requirements and assessing how the project can meet the health care needs of patients and families in the region.

Quick Facts

  • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is a teaching hospital, affiliated with the University of Toronto. The hospital is home to the largest trauma centre in Canada and provided trauma care to 1,800 patients last year.
  • To further support the high-quality care provided by Ontario’s hospitals, the government is providing an additional $827 million to hospitals across the province, representing a four per cent increase from last year. This will ensure all publicly funded hospitals receive a minimum two per cent increase to their budgets to help them better meet patient needs, while building a stronger, more resilient health care system.
  • The Ontario government is increasing Sunnybrook’s operating funding for the fourth straight year. Last year, the hospital received over $21.6 million in additional operating funding, representing an increase of 3.2 per cent to the operating funding the hospital received the year before.
  • As part of the government’s over $1.2 billion investment to help hospitals recover from financial pressures created and worsened by COVID-19, Sunnybrook received over $24.1 million for 2020-21 lost revenue in order to provide financial stability and support continued high-quality patient care.
  • As part of the government’s $760 million commitment in the 2021 Budget to support over 3,100 additional hospital beds during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sunnybrook received funding for up to 32 acute beds and 10 critical care beds.
  • To support growing demands on the health care system, Ontario’s investments over the next 10 years will lead to $40 billion in health infrastructure across the province. These investments will increase capacity in hospitals, build new health care facilities, and renew existing hospitals and community health centres.

Source Province of Ontario 

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