Mount Carmel hospital opening in Grove City delayed

The opening of the Mount Carmel Grove City hospital has been pushed back again — this time until late spring — because of construction delays, officials said Friday.

“Our No. 1 goal has always been to deliver a facility that is safe for staff, patients and all who enter,” Mount Carmel spokeswoman Samantha Irons wrote in an email. “And while we’re extremely eager to open our doors to our Grove City neighbors, we must give the construction team the time needed to accomplish this goal.”

Irons said the delay has nothing to do with Mount Carmel Health System’s ongoing investigation into a former intensive-care doctor who ordered excessive doses of painkillers for at least 34 patients who died at two of its other hospitals.

She said work remains to be done on an expanded emergency department, several procedural areas and one patient floor of the fivestory facility. Other areas that have been completed still need to be furnished and equipped. The hospital also is testing building systems and completing other tests that are required before it can seek approval to open.

Last fall, the health system pushed back the Grove City hospital’s projected November opening to February because of weather interruptions and to complete and open all 210 patient rooms instead of leaving 24 to be completed.