Planning, design and conformance team selected for WLMH rebuild

The West Lincoln Memorial Hospital project is moving forward with the selection of B+H Architects / mcCallumSather as the planning, design and conformance (PDC) team.

As the PDC team, B+H Architects / mcCallumSather will prepare project documents, including output specifications that will form the guidelines and performance requirements the successful building team must meet when preparing the design. The PDC team will also monitor construction progress and provide coordination and oversight during commissioning, completion, and transition to the new hospital.

The West Lincoln Memorial Hospital project will involve constructing a new, larger hospital on the property behind the existing facility. Features will include:
• Acute inpatient beds
• A 24-hour Emergency Department
• Maternal and newborn services
• Day surgical services including endoscopy and minor procedures
• Increased outpatient (ambulatory) care space to expand availability of consultation services closer to home
• Advanced diagnostics including X-ray, mammography, echocardiography and ultrasound, and CT scanner

The project will be delivered under Infrastructure Ontario’s public-private partnership (P3) model, which transfers the risks associated with design, construction and financing a complex hospital project to the private sector. The new facility will be publicly owned, controlled and accountable.

As the next major step, Hamilton Health Sciences and Infrastructure Ontario will issue a request for qualifications (RFQ), inviting teams to submit their credentials to design, build and finance the hospital. The RFQ is expected to be released in early 2021.

Quotes:

Building a new hospital requires leadership and support from so many, including hospital staff and physicians, government, elected officials, teams of external experts, and the local community. We are grateful to all those who have helped to advance this important project and look forward to working with B+H Architects / mcCallumSather as we continue to make progress towards planning for a new WLMH.
Rob MacIsaac, President & CEO, Hamilton Health Sciences

I am very pleased to see this important step towards our new hospital proceed. I am grateful that the Minister of Health and Premier have responded to the advocacy of many constituents in Niagara West by expediting the process to build a new WLMH. This critical health care infrastructure project will serve many families, seniors, and mothers in Niagara West and beyond.
Sam Oosterhoff, MPP, Niagara West

Services to remain in community while facility upgrades to meet required safety standards are underway

Hamilton Health Sciences’ (HHS) Board of Directors has approved a plan to address unmet safety standards and maintain surgical services and obstetrical services with some limitations at our West Lincoln Memorial Hospital (WLMH) site until the facility is rebuilt.

The plan, developed by doctors and staff, involves renovating facilities to meet required standards for patient safety in the surgical and obstetrical areas at WLMH.

Work will begin in July with the temporary conversion of one of two operating rooms to a sterile surgical supply storage space. This renovation will take three days. The other operating room will continue to be used to accommodate planned surgeries, including scheduled caesarian sections. While there is only one operating room at the site, a low-risk obstetrical model will be implemented. A working group is presently working through the details of how this will occur.

Later this summer, the sterile supply storage space in the obstetrical area will also be renovated. This necessary renovation is anticipated to take several weeks. The service will return immediately after the work is complete. Details about the timing of this phase of work and service redirection are being worked through by our doctors and staff. Details will be shared once they have finalized a plan.

The emergency department and other services, including outpatient clinics, continue as normal.

HHS will continue to communicate extensively about what is happening at WLMH as this work proceeds.

QUOTES

“As board members, our first priority will always be the safety of our patients, staff and physicians. We are confident that the proposed plan to meet the required standards of care at WLMH is the best way forward in the short-term. In the long-term, we remain steadfastly committed to building a new WLMH that includes the services important to this community.”

Julia Kamula, Chair, HHS Board of Directors

“This is a safe, sound and reasonable plan which will allow us to protect our unique model of care. While we know there will be some service disruptions, it is the right thing to do until our new hospital is ready.”

Dr. Mat Noble Wohlgemut, WLMH Interim Medical Lead

“We know how important the surgical and obstetrical services are to the community, and that is why we looked at every option to maintain them at WLMH. The plan that we have recommended will protect these services while responsibly meeting the required standards for patient safety and quality of care until WLMH is rebuilt.”

Dr. Michael Stacey, Executive Vice President Academic and Chief Medical Executive

CONTACT: Lillian Badzioch, Senior Communications Specialist, Hamilton Health Sciences, 905-521-2100, extension 76090, cell 905-730-1836, badzioch@hhsc.ca.

Upgrades to main entrance start May 6

We are excited to announce upgrades to the main entrance lobby at WLMH will begin on May 6. This work includes replacing the ceiling, light fixtures and fire alarms.

During construction, the main entrance will be closed for approximately five days. Patients and visitors will enter through the Physician Entrance located on the west side of the hospital. Directional signage will be on site.

The Emergency Entrance remains open 24 hours a day.

We appreciate your patience as we fix our hospital until a new one is built.

Please continue to visit WLMH.ca for updates on our plans to rebuild WLMH.

Update: Nurse recruitment and service re-direction

Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) continues to aggressively recruit to fill the open RN positions at the WLMH operating room (OR), working in collaboration with the community and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

In addition to posting on national and international nursing career web sites, we are targeting nurses through social media and local advertising, connecting with academic programs and meeting new graduates at job fairs. We are also providing signing bonuses up to $30,000 for out-of-province nurses and a $1,500 bonus for HHS employees who put us in touch with a successful candidate.

Our combined efforts have resulted in a surge of applications in the last few weeks and we are contacting and interviewing qualified candidates as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, our current nursing complement allows us to run the operating room Monday through Friday. This means that births cannot take place at WLMH from 3 pm Fridays to 7 am Mondays due to the risk of a C-section or post-delivery surgery being required. Eight babies have been born at either McMaster University Medical Centre or at the St. Catharines site of Niagara Health System since the weekend service re-direction began.

Our staff are making the transfers in care as smooth as possible for the laboring mothers, including notifying the receiving hospital of their arrival and transferring any necessary medical records. The WLMH Emergency Department is available for births during weekend hours if necessary.

Learn information for expectant mothers.

Please note: there are no changes to other services at WLMH, including diagnostic imaging, clinics, scheduled surgeries, inpatient beds and the 24/7 Emergency Department.

Learn more information about recruitment.

Labour & Delivery: Temporary weekend service changes

Instructions for expectant moms can be found here.
More information including Q&As can be found
here.


A nation-wide shortage of operating room (OR) nurses is affecting recruitment efforts underway to fill vacant positions at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

Until this is resolved, we are not able to support the on-call surgical staffing that is required for obstetrical care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We fully support the government’s commitment to our community to keep all our services at WLMH. For this reason, we are taking limited and temporary steps to redirect obstetrical care, and only on weekends. The service will resume at WLMH as we are able to add staff to cover the on-call shifts.

All other services continue as usual, including 24/7 Emergency Department.

This primarily affects women who are expecting to deliver babies at WLMH. Women who go into labour from 3 pm Friday to 7 am Monday can deliver their babies at McMaster University Medical Centre or a hospital of their choice in the region.

The redirection is a safety measure, in the event that a woman requires a caesarian section or other post-birth surgery, which would be done in the Operating Room.

We’re hiring operating room nurses at WLMH

Hamilton Health Sciences is one of Ontario’s largest and most comprehensive healthcare systems, providing care across the entire life spectrum, from pre-birth to end-of-life.

Our West Lincoln Memorial Hospital (WLMH) site in Grimsby has been caring for West Niagara residents for over 70 years. As a community hospital, WLMH provides both inpatient services and outpatient services including emergency services, complex and palliative care, surgery and a maternal and newborn program.

We’re looking for operating room nurses to join our team at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital, and Hamilton Health Sciences is offering up to $30,000 as a signing bonus for out-of-province nurses.

View the job posting on our Careers website.

View our advertisement