Deadline for New NHS Site Plans

It is one step closer to a shovel in the ground...

Tuesday was the deadline for proposals to design, build and finance a new St. Catharines health care complex.

The Niagara Health system will now review the three plans. The plans come from bidders, pre-approved last year.

NHS President and CEO Debbie Sevenpifer tells CKTB they expect to pick a plan in the fall and break ground at the Fourth Avenue site by the end of the year.

The new site is the first in a partnership with Design, Build, Finance, and Maintain and Infrastructure Ontario.

Once a bidder has been chosen, the NHS and Infrastructure Ontario will team up with other consultants to fine-tune and negotiate the selected plan.

Sevenpifer looks forward to speaking to the community at that point to get their input.

The 375 bed complex will replace the St. Catharines General and Ontario Street sites.

The state-of-the-art facility will offer cardiac catheterization, long-term mental care, and act as a dialysis centre.

It will also be home to the Walker Family Cancer Centre, for comprehensive cancer care.

Sevenpifer says the facility cannot come soon enough for Niagara patients and health care workers who she says deserve the upgrade.