Growing McMaster Children's Hospital - Hamilton Health Sciences

We’re growing McMaster Children’s Hospital

In July 2023, McMaster Children’s Hospital received a significant investment from the provincial government of more than $50 million to provide more specialized care to a greater number of children.

This investment – the largest investment in the hospital’s history – enabled us to begin a transformation initiative, called Growing MCH, to improve how pediatric care is accessed and experienced by children, youth, and families in our region and province.

Over 24 pediatric programs and services across both McMaster Children’s Hospital and the Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre were identified through this investment to:

Expand and enhance services, spaces and equipment;
Attract additional qualified team members, including specialized clinicians and experts to fill over 300 new health care roles; and,
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 was crucial. Many children have been waiting too long for essential care, services, and treatment – some even surpassing the time frames recommended by clinicians. This was compounded by a global pandemic causing significant delays in care.

A leading regional service hub

Eva, a youg patient using a wheelchair. She is wearing an orange dress, blue frame glasses and has a stuffed toy on her lap.

As a national leader in pediatric care, expanding our team and areas of care was crucial to achieving our goals more quickly and getting kids back to being kids sooner.

MCH and RJCHC are also spaces for learning and innovation. Through active engagement with peer hospitals in Ontario, McMaster University and Mohawk College, we build on research and development from top clinicians and staff and deliver advanced care. This investment also helped 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 people. With this growth, we are continuing 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.

Three photos of children. Two use a trach tube in their necks to breathe.

Patients like Calum, Raiya and Ivan 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. We remain focused on reducing wait times for children and youth to ensure they receive care within reasonable and recommended timeframes.

The Growing MCH initiative enhanced care and hospital efficiency by supporting innovative approaches to existing and new programs. MCH and RJCHC expanded and updated spaces to accommodate more surgeries, more advanced treatments, and better recovery.

Some of our programs had the longest waiting lists in the province. Within one year, we could see improvements with critical milestones that decreased wait times, increased our workforce, and improved outcomes for kids, and enabled us to continue to deliver excellent pediatric care.

Seeing the impact

By increasing our capacity, more families are getting the right care at the right time. Below are some of the achievements to date, thanks to funding.

Overall increase in patients who can receive care

From April 2023 to September 2024, almost 100,000 patients received care at MCH and RJCHC, resulting in over 450,000 total visits across all pediatric areas.
This is almost 15,000 additional children and families who were able to receive life-changing care compared to before receiving funding.

Significant improvements in wait times for emergency care

A 19% decrease in time spent between entering and being discharged from the emergency department (ED)
A 25% decrease in time spent waiting for an initial physician assessment
A 23% decrease in hours waiting for a hospital bed

Increased capacity for pediatric surgeries

From April 2023 to June 2024, MCH completed over 8,700 surgeries to address children’s health care needs – an additional 1,100 pediatric surgeries performed thanks to investments.
For April 2024 to March 2025, pediatric MRIs are on track to increase by 21% or 5,200 scans to help provide life-saving diagnoses.
All 10 operating rooms are at full capacity, helping kids get surgery faster.

Two photos showing the emergency entrance to McMaster Children's Hospital on the left and the whole Ron Joyce Children's Health Centre building on the right.

Patients at McMaster Children’s Hospital and Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre are benefitting from this transformation.

Growing Strong

During the Growing MCH initiative, McMaster Children’s Hospital actively worked on its operational plan to put investment into action. We recruited more skilled health care workers and physicians and created more spaces to grow across the two sites.

Over 24 programs, clinics and initiatives were supported by this investment to meet the capacity demands of the region. Click the links below to learn more about how some of the programs expanded:

And more.

Other news:

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.”

Growing McMaster Children’s Hospital

Growing MCH