Growing MCH
We’re growing McMaster Children’s Hospital
McMaster Children’s Hospital has received a significant investment from the provincial government of more than $48 million to provide more specialized care to a greater number of children.
This investment – the largest investment in the hospital’s history – has the potential to transform the way pediatric care is accessed and experienced by children, youth, and families in our region and province.
Twenty-four pediatric programs and services have been identified to grow through this investment, which will:
- Expand and enhance services, spaces and equipment
- Attract additional qualified team members, and add new clinicians and team members
- Reduce wait times for essential children’s health care services such as surgeries, procedures, diagnostic imaging, mental health treatment, and child development and rehabilitation
The timing of this funding is crucial. Many children have been waiting too long for essential care, services, and treatment – some even surpassing the time frames recommended by clinicians. The investment includes some programs of Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre (RJCHC), a McMaster Children’s Hospital site.
A leading regional service hub
As a national leader in pediatric care, we have the necessary expertise and experience to successfully implement this service expansion. Expanding our team and areas of care is crucial to achieve our goals more quickly and getting kids back to being kids sooner.
MCH and RJCHC are also spaces of learning and innovation. Through active engagement with peer hospitals in Ontario, McMaster University and Mohawk College, we can build on research and development from top clinicians and staff and deliver advanced care. This investment will also seed partnerships with local service providers who can offer more options for families in the region.
As a leading regional hub for children’s care, the hospital provides a full range of pediatric services to 2.3 million children. With this planned growth, we can continue to support the individual and complex needs of kids and families in our region for generations to come.
MCH is grateful for this historic investment and opportunity to change lives. This investment was part of a $330M provincial investment to four children’s health care organizations to better support families across the province.
Impact
Patients like Calum, Raiya and Ivan will benefit from program and service expansion.
Making a difference, immediately
We’re growing McMaster Children’s Hospital by addressing challenges across the pediatric health care sector, reducing wait times for children and youth to ensure they receive care within reasonable and recommended timeframes.
Growing MCH will enhance care and hospital efficiency by supporting innovative approaches to existing and new programs. MCH and RJCHC are expanding and updating spaces to accommodate more surgeries, more advanced treatments, and better recovery.
Check back for regular updates on how we’re growing.
The investment from the government has been transformational. We’re already achieving critical milestones that are decreasing wait times and backlogs, increasing our workforce, and improving outcomes for kids.
Currently, some of our programs have the longest waiting lists in the province, including ear, nose & throat clinics and eye clinics.
Within three months, we can already see significant growth within the hospital and improvements to delivering excellent pediatric care.
Seeing the impact
Areas of Growth
Patients at McMaster Children’s Hospital and Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre will benefit from this funding.
Here we grow!
McMaster Children’s Hospital is actively working on its operational plan to put this investment into action. We are recruiting more skilled health care workers and physicians and creating more spaces to grow across the two sites.
Around 25 programs, clinics and initiatives will be supported by this investment to grow and meet the capacity demands of the region. All areas of care have begun or completed implementation of their investment updates.
Completed Updates
Emergency Department Rapid Assessment Service
To tackle increased wait times within the Children’s Emergency Department, the team at MCH has created an additional space outside the ED during busy evening hours to provide rapid assessments for less sick patients. This process allows the team to effectively see patients with less severe issues and makes room for critical patients during high-volume times or seasonal surges.
The program has also increased the number of physicians and nurses at peak times to assess and discharge more quickly, improving patient flow.
“Thanks to provincial funding, our teams have been able to explore innovative solutions in emergency care, hire additional staff, and fully use hospital spaces. The hospital’s team of skilled doctors, nurses, and other trained ED professionals are well-equipped to handle all types of emergencies while providing better, more efficient care to help kids get back to being kids.”
– Dr. Angelo Mikrogianakis, Chief of Pediatrics at MCH.
Learn more: New strategies to reduce waits in McMaster Children’s Hospital Emergency Department
Eating Disorders Program Expansion
During the COVID-19 pandemic, MCH and hospitals across Ontario saw a significant increase in the number of youths experiencing eating disorders. The eating disorders program is a critical service for families in our region.
To meet new capacity demands, funding has helped acquire new beds, more space, and more skilled clinicians who will provide care for 35 to 45 additional patients per year.
The investment has also:
- Increased the number of clinicians, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, and others, decreasing wait times from initial assessment to treatment
- Increased available support groups and resources for patients and families
- Increased program space that will accommodate additional beds and increased staff
- Provided new equipment for each room to support the work of the team
Overall, the impact of the investment means that more patients are removed from the waiting list, and wait times are decreased so children experiencing an eating disorder can access care when they need it.
This funding has also increased provincial collaboration and medical support to better service patients across Ontario.
Extensive Needs Service
More information coming soon.
More surgical recovery beds, medicine beds and critical care beds
More information coming soon.
Learn more about our Intensive Care program.
Same Day Overnight unit
An innovative approach to hospital operations, the Same Day Overnight (SDO) Unit helps to address waitlists for orthopedic surgeries, general surgery, urology, plastics, and more. Funding has provided six new beds and staffing support, which has made an impact on backlogs across the hospital.
The SDO Unit ensures care for post-surgical pediatric patients is provided in the most appropriate location with the appropriate skill set of care providers based on the procedure, clinical assessment, and length of stay. The unit ensures continued surgical care for kids – regardless of capacity pressures and potential seasonal surges.
This is a successful initiative across multiple sites at HHS, ensuring surgical patients receive surgical care and recovery within a department that is integrated, adaptable and efficient.
Hospital updates underway
Genetic Newborn Screening
The expanded Genetic Newborn Screening Initiative is improving care for babies with positive newborn screening results by facilitating earlier treatment and intervention, ultimately improving the long-term outcomes for kids.
Program growth includes:
- The addition of several clinical assistants that will improve the team’s capacity to provide the expertise and care that families need
- Improved data collection and program oversight to reduce the number of false positives and enhance the quality of newborn screening care for all babies across the province
- Families with diagnosed infants will receive more appropriate care across many areas, including earlier follow-up testing, diagnosis, and treatment
Learn more: Genetics & Metabolics Program
Medically Complex Care
Funding for the pediatric Medically Complex Care program is improving access to care for patients with complex health care needs by reducing waitlists, provide better hospital transitions, and help families get the care they need.
The Complex Care program provides holistic care to more than 180 of the most medically fragile children and youth. This group experiences a high level of acuity, morbidity/mortality, and requires close monitoring and intensive care coordination with caregivers/community partners.
The Complex Care team provides comprehensive, holistic care with a multi-disciplinary approach, and consists of a number of skilled clinicians and physicians.
Investment has supported growth in this area by:
- Building capacity to enhance the current wrap-around services for complex care – in-person and virtual.
- Hiring support staff, which has allowed providers to support additional patients that would otherwise remain on the waiting list.
- Establishing additional service provider partnerships to improve the circle of care and help kids transition to adult care.
Learn more: Pediatric Complex Care Unit
Chronic Pain
More information to come.
Updates in development
Check back for more details as we launch new programs:
- Acute mental health
- Community-based mental health
- Community-based rehabilitation and development
- Endoscopy
- Diagnostic imaging
- Gender diversity
- Genetics & Metabolics regional genetics program
- Hemoglobinopathy
- Interventional radiology
- Operating room advancements
- Pediatric health / recovery
- Pediatric oncology supports
- Pediatric palliative care
- Tele-resuscitation
- Transportation
Video Updates
Part 1: Our McMaster Children’s Hospital is growing, but what does that mean?
Introducing “Growing McMaster Children’s Hospital: A Chat with Bruce Squires” – a multi-part series that breaks down how we’re transforming our hospital to improve pediatric care.
McMaster Children’s Hospital president, Bruce Squires, explains our vision of how we’re transforming this hospital and why this is critical to ensuring we can provide the right care for kids.
He’ll also highlight some exciting changes you’ll see across the spectrum of specialized care we provide to the Hamilton region and beyond. Over the next year, our efforts to expand our hospital will lay the foundation of care that will benefit children for years to come.
Part 2: We’re tackling our surgical waiting list so kids can get the care they need, faster.
Thanks to new operating funding from the provincial government, we’re investing in new equipment, more beds, more staff and improved services. We’ve created additional surgical rooms and scheduled more time for surgeries. Learn about our new same-day overnight service and our new rapid assessment service in the emergency department.
Part 3: We’re expanding services, spaces, and staff to help reduce the backlog of children waiting for care, improve patient flow, and provide better care for kids.
We’re excited to see how this growth will transform the experience for patients and families, including enhancements to our pediatric intensive care unit, additional beds within our surgical departments, and more specialized professionals to address waitlists in our Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic and Eye Clinic.
Part 4: Our hospital is growing, so our teams are too!
To accommodate new and expanded services, we’re hiring nearly 300 nursing, allied health, and clinical support roles across our hospital to help provide essential care for our youngest patients.
Part 5: Focus on Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre
Did you know Our Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre is home to many programs such as extensive needs services, pediatric mental health programs, rehabilitation services, and one of the largest autism programs in Canada? We’re expanding our teams and services across this site through new provincial investments to provide better care. This will help reduce delays for families who need immediate support.
Part 6: Enhancing our specialized programs
Across McMaster Children’s Hospital, our range of specialized programs is growing to provide better comprehensive care for children with mental health challenges, eating disorders, chronic pain and other conditions. Our eating disorder program will now have additional beds, space, and clinicians to see 35 to 45 new patients annually. The chronic pain program is working towards more efficient care and expanded treatment options to improve our patient’s quality of life.
We’re dedicated to helping children and young adults access the best care possible to grow and thrive. Don’t miss the last episode of “Growing McMaster Children’s Hospital: A Chat with Bruce Squires.”