New Waterford Hospital moving to Health Sciences Centre
Addition to Health Sciences Centre, but also more community-based supports
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador announcement Thursday of a new plan for the replacement of the aging Waterford Hospital in St. John’s was about a new building, but also taking a sizable step towards re-vamping mental health and addictions care.
That was the general consensus amongst the crowd of health and community leaders after the speeches and applause at the announcement, held at a Memorial University of Newfoundland medical school lecture theatre.
The big reveal was a concept for a new, 94-bed mental health facility, to be added as an extension to the Health Sciences Centre.
But in addition, the plan includes a commitment for additional beds for crisis care and supportive housing to be scattered throughout the province, paired with improved supports (more mobile crisis-response teams, day-treatment programs, online therapy supports, single-session walk-ins).
The change comes out of the work of an all-party committee on mental health and addictions. One of the recommendations from that committee was to have some replacement for the Waterford Hospital, but combine that with addition of more services in the communities.
Health Minister Dr. John Haggie said six mental health care beds will be added on to a facility in Happy Valley-goose Bay, but the planned community beds in the big reveal are generally not in-patient beds, but supportive housing. Some will be offered through joint projects with community groups, while others — particularly in more rural areas — will come through the home support program and in-house supports offered under the regional health authorities.
“It would be a different flavour for different places,” Haggie told reporters.
He said assessments as to where beds or alternatives are most needed will help inform total costs.
But it’s community, community, community versus admissions.
“The idea is that when the old Waterford shutters, there will be a community-based system up and running, of which the new mental health facility will be the most visible tertiary care piece,” he said.
The expectation is 182 community beds (crisis care beds and supportive housing) are the forecasted requirement, but information provided by government says that figure still needs to be confirmed through additional planning.
Getting a variety of supports for differing levels of need out into the community is expected to help reduce the stigma around mental health and addictions.
The Gathering Place executive director Joanne Thompson said she appreciates the recognition of the need for more community-based supports, and will be watching closely — with cautious optimism — to see how the community-based beds roll out.
Thompson said there are significant numbers of people coming through the doors of The Gathering Place every day, caught in cycles that involve homelessness, mental health and addictions.
“We need professional services on site on a consistent basis,” she said.
Stella’s Circle was another organization being looked on to play a role in the new plan. CEO Lisa Browne said services are not free because they are community based, but she thinks the announcement by government is exactly the way the province should be moving.
“Absolutely there will be needed funding within the community to ensure that the right services are offered. On the positive side, we’re not starting from zero,” she said. “For example Stella’s Circle has 79 units of supportive housing now. We’re pretty good at it. You know we’ve built our housing, we operate our housing, we have the experience and expertise.”
There was optimism it will all be seen through to reality, despite the fact an old concept for a Waterford Hospital replacement was abandoned.
“There may be some understandable cynicism amongst us, as promises sometimes don’t always come to fruition,” said CHANNAL executive director Paula Corcoran-jacobs. “But as a person with mental illness, I must have hope that change is possible.”
Premier Dwight Ball offered reporters a commitment that the hospital extension will get built and community supports added.
“People that I’m speaking with, professionals here today, they’re excited about this,” he said.
“I’ve had social workers, I’ve had physicians, I’ve had counselors that have already come up to me and said we’ve been waiting for this and we’re ready to collaborate and work with government and work with Eastern Health and all our other authorities to make this happen.”
Extension details
The new building will be much smaller in terms of bed space than the earlier Waterford replacement plans of 2014. The earlier proposal was for a 33,000-square-foot building at the existing Waterford Hospital site offering a total of 140 beds. The estimated cost was about $330 million. The new concept, as an extension of the HSC, is a roughly 15,000 square foot building with 94 beds at an estimated cost of about $200 million.
Both cost estimates were offered with the caveat of plus or minus 30 per cent.
The extension will be built in an area off Warner’s Road (first right off Clinch Crescent) and link up to the area of the current HSC emergency entrance.
The newly released provincial budget includes $6.1 million for advanced planning of the facility.
The next steps include an analysis to see if a build as a public-private partnership is appropriate, and advanced engineering.
Activity at the HSC could happen as early as 2019, to tear down an existing hostel building serving adult patients and their families. The hostel is commonly used by families travelling in from Labrador and rural Newfoundland for care.
The replacement of that hostel has not yet been settled. The existing hostel has 100 beds operating at 60-70 per cent capacity, according to officials.
The new build at HSC also includes plans for a four-floor, 120-stall parking garage.