A new hospital is under construction in Peterborough, on the parking lot of the existing
Peterborough Regional Health Care Centre in the city’s west side.
     The 335-bed Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) currently operates on two sites
and services a population of more than 300,000 in four counties.
     The Health Centre, costing $189 million, will consolidate the two sites, once the constr-
uction of a new facility is complete in 2008. The 715,000 square-foot structure, to be built on what is now the PRHC's Hospital Drive Site parking lot, will accommodate up to 489 beds.
     Seven years ago, the Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC) presented
Peterborough with an opportunity to assume a larger role as a regional referral centre. PRHC
submitted a number of major studies to the provincial Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
     The conclusion of the independent studies was that the current facility was inadequate to
accommodate the expansion of services and role as envisaged by the HSRC, and a new
hospital would not only be better for patient care, but would lead to an annual operating
savings between $4.5 and $5.5 million.
     The new hospital was needed because inpatient and outpatient services were located in
buildings constructed in 1947, 1962 and 1990 that have not been upgraded. There is no air
conditioning in most of the buildings, air quality is poor and wheelchair accessibility is
extremely limited.
     The Peterborough Regional Health Centre came to be on January 22, 1999 following
directives from HSRC that included closing one of the city's two hospitals - St. Joseph's Health
Centre. All services were to be consolidated on one site. The Commission recognized the
former Civic Hospital site, on the city's west side, as a regional referral centre and
recommended a new name to reflect the new role.
     The Health Centre operates on two hospital sites - Hospital Drive (formerly Civic Hospital)
and Rogers Street (formerly St. Joseph's Health Centre), as the former Civic Hospital, built in
1950 with 240 beds, is not large enough to accommodate all services.
     Servicing a population of more than 300,000 in four counties, PRHC is the region's second-
largest employer with a staff of approximately 1,850. The Health Centre boasts more than 600
adult and 115 youth volunteers.
     The Hospital Drive facility provides ambulatory care, long term care, emergency, internal
medicine (general medicine and regional subspecialty services), surgery, mental health
(inpatient, outpatient and consultative services), perinatal (special care nursery), pediatrics,
general medicine, critical care, cardiac catheterization lab, magnetic resonance imaging
machine and dialysis.
     Services at the Rogers Street site include ophthalmology, outpatient chemotherapy, urology,
plastic surgery, interim-long term care beds and rehabilitation.
     The Women’s Health Care Centre is located downtown at 157 Charlotte St. and provides
information, support, counseling and treatment for women.
     The process of revamping health services to shorten wait times and provide better access
to doctors and nurses is taking place all over the province of Ontario.
     The provincial ministry of Health and Long term Care has set up 14 Local Health Integration
Networks (LHINs) that will be responsible for planning, integrating and, ultimately, funding
local health services to make it easier for patients to access care.
     Services include hospitals, community care access centres, home care, long-term care,
mental health and community health centres.
     Peterborough is in the Central East LHIN that will be administered from Ajax and includes
Durham Region, Kawartha Lakes, the Haliburton Highlands, Northumberland County,
Peterborough County and some of the eastern part of the City of Toronto.