Humber River Hospital — North America’s first fully digital hospital — will open its doors in Toronto on October 18, using the most modern technologies to offer patients more efficient, safe, accurate and reliable care, the Ontario government has announced in a news release.
Ontario is investing up to $2.13 billion in this project. Premier Kathleen Wynne was at the hospital on Oct. 1 to mark the completion of the new facility, which will consolidate acute care services that Humber River Hospital now delivers at three separate sites.
The new hospital will automate routine processes to enhance patients’ experience and allow doctors and nurses to focus more on caring and healing. For example, robots will deliver non-narcotic drugs and other supplies; diagnostic images such as MRI scans will be charted immediately so specialists can review them sooner; and patients will check in on self-serve kiosks that will automate patient records and notify the relevant care teams that the patient has arrived.
Patients will also benefit from:
An increase in capacity from 549 to 656 beds
Expanded ambulatory, emergency and critical care services
Modern diagnostics equipment to enable more detailed and accurate diagnosis and treatment
Updated infectious disease control systems to monitor and prevent a broad range of infections.
The hospital’s website included these construction-related details:
Size: 1.8 million square feet
Value: $1.75 billion
Project sponsor, equity investor and financial arranger: Plenary Group
Builders: PCL Constructors Canada
Architect: HDR Architecture Associates, Inc.
Services: Johnson Controls
Contract Terms: 33.5 years, Design-Build-Finance-Maintain
Construction Facts
- More than 2,825,000 person hours worked to date
- 1.075 million kilograms of rebar (concrete reinforcing steel) installed
- More than 29,500 loads have been excavated and hauled offsite
- 13,519 square metres of asphalt laid
- 1.7 kilometers of storm drainage pipe installed
- 839 meters of Sanitary pipe installed
- 829 meters of water line installed
- More than 260 tons of structural steel framing installed
- 123,270 cubic metres of concrete poured to date
- 4,188 door frame delivered to site to date
- 6,600 – doors in the new building
- 9,000 Pages in the Project Output Specifications document
- 80 Air handling units in the building
- 4 National and international financing awards for the project
- 75 per cent construction waste diverted from landfill
