RVH Eyes ‘South’ Campus

RVH is getting to work on a south campus to help relieve some overcrowding at the current location. It’ll be a 15 to 20-year process that would see a new facility built in Innisfil, likely on donated land at Yonge Street and the 6th Line. In the meantime, some services could be offered at the Community Health Hub expected to open by early 2019 next to the Innisfil Rec Centre. There’s also unused space at the existing facility in north Barrie. A Capital Planning Committee has been struck to look at all the possibilities for boosting service to south end Barrie and beyond.  Two planning studies will explore, in great detail, the services RVH should provide in the future, the preferred location and infrastructure planning. Since opening the expansion in 2012, RVH has grappled with surging patient volumes. The health centre has experienced surge conditions for the past year and on most days every bed is full. In fact, the medical/surgical occupancy rate at RVH is consistently over 115 percent and recently hit 135 percent. Those surging volumes mean RVH must care for patients in unconventional spaces, including hallways.