sudbury’s hospital pushing for 252 more beds, ceo says
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david mcneil, president and ceo of health sciences north and health sciences north research institute, spoke at a greater sudbury chamber of commerce luncheon in sudbury, ont. on thursday march 21, 2024.
john lappa
/
sudbury star
despite ongoing pressures from overcrowded emergency rooms, rising mental health needs and workforce shortages, health sciences north reported strengthened partnerships across the region to deliver health care, along with improvements in patient satisfaction, staff retention and its financial position during its annual general meeting.
“across ontario, healthcare organizations are being asked to do more than ever before,” hsn ceo david mcneil said in his report to the annual general meeting on wednesday. “at hsn, we are serving a growing and aging populations. we are responding to increasing complexity of care with higher rates of hospitalization, rising mental health and addictions needs, persistent workforce shortages impacting the sector and growing demand for specialized services closer to home.”
according to the data presented, patient satisfaction exceeded targets, ranging from 82 per cent to 90 per cent, which is considerably better than what peer hospitals reported.
staff retention improved from 83 per cent in 2023-24 to 92 per cent in february 2026, a nine-point increase over three years.
a further 40 new physicians were recruited, half of them having completed their training at the northern ontario school of medicine university based in sudbury and thunder bay. of the 40 new hires, 23 are specialists working in surgery, medical imaging and psychiatry, while 17 are specializing in family medicine.
however, pressures on emergency department persists, with more than 200 patients daily, creating bed shortages and patients being cared for in unconventional spaces like hallways and storage rooms. the majority of patients in the emergency room are seen within nine hours, which meets the provincial average wait time.
population growth, particularly more seniors with comorbidities, along with mental health and addiction, are driving demand in the er. hsn’s proposed expansion to increase capacity to more than 780 beds intends to address not only bed shortages but also the need for more private rooms. for example, despite sudbury’s drug toxicity death rate being more than three times the provincial average, only 13 of hsn’s 60 psychiatric beds are private rooms, which are spread across multiple facilities. some of those beds are outdated, demonstrating the need for modernized mental health facilities.
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the financial report presented by board treasurer michel paulin, which included details of the audited financials that are available on hsn’s website, showed that hsn is in a stronger financial position than it was last year, with a surplus rather than a deficit, thanks to increased provincial funding. of note, hsn moved from a $11.3 million deficit last year to a $6.1 million surplus. this was mostly due to a notable increase in operational funding from the province, up some $38 million. however, costs continue to rise, and paulin emphasized that the demand pressures mcneil mentioned remain significant.
mcneil emphasized multiple times throughout the meeting and later in interviews with reporters about the importance of working with the province to move forward with hsn’s expansion to address the healthcare demands of the region.
“without the physical infrastructure, we can’t deliver the programs and services,” he said.
mcneil said discussions with the province on the hospital’s redevelopment project are continuing, noting the government has committed to a future capacity of 780 beds. hsn currently has 528 beds.
hsn has almost completed stage 1.2 of the redevelopment planning process, said mcneil, which outlines the proposed number of beds, programs and services required for the future hospital, and is now awaiting approval to move into stage 1.3, where detailed functional planning will determine how those services will be organized and delivered throughout the organization.
“that, of course, is a significant investment in planning dollars,” said mcneil, “and we need approval from the ministry of health to move to that next stage of planning.”
stage 2, which also consists of different phases, will see the project move towards design, bidding and contract awarding and, finally, construction.
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in the meantime, meeting demand with current hsn capacity will require stronger partnerships with other hospitals in northeastern ontario and service providers to improve patient flow, he said. this includes working more closely with primary care to reduce admissions, better managing demand for diagnostics and surgeries, and implementing more seamless electronic systems across care settings.
it also means reducing hospital length of stay and moving patients through care more efficiently, said mcneil. hsn is already using amberwood suites for acute overflow beds, and similar partnership models could be expanded further, he added.
other significant milestones at hsn included the expansion of partnerships across the north, including early development of a regional surgical network and enhanced orthopedic services in parry sound.
the organization also launched the northeast central intake diagnostic imaging hub with 23 partner hospitals to improve access to diagnostic imaging across the region.
in addition, hsn opened northeastern ontario’s first hemoglobinopathy clinic, reducing the need for patients with sickle cell disease and thalassemia to travel to toronto for care.
pediatric services were also strengthened through the children’s treatment centre, which reduced waitlists from about 500 children to less than 90.
finally, the mobile crisis rapid response team diverted about 1,100 people from the emergency department and saved about 5,000 police service hours through coordinated crisis response.
bluesky: @sudburystar.bsky.social
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