Grand River and St. Mary's hospitals could merge in 2025

Grand River Hospital (GRH) and St. Mary’s General Hospital are looking to merge into a single new hospital organization by the spring of 2025.

The hospitals say a due diligence process regarding the details of the merge will get underway along with consultation with the Ontario Ministry of Health.

The hospitals have been partners for over 20 years and believe this merger will make it easier for patients to access care.

“While we initially intended to maintain separate governance structures, it has become increasingly clear that leveraging our combined strengths as a single organization will put us in the best position to navigate the changing health care landscape,” said Tim Rollins, the trustee chair on St. Mary’s board, in a joint news release.

According to the release, the hospital boards independently voted in favour of creating a new, single hospital organization to replace both current hospital organizations.

“This decision is about meeting the needs of our rapidly growing communities to provide better care today, and for generations to come. This is an evolution of our partnership as we work together to build our future hospital system,” said Sandra Hanmer, Grand River board chair.

If approved, the transition is expected to start as early as spring 2025 and take a year to complete. The name and identity of the new organization will be announced later in the planning process.

Discussions about a possible merger aren’t new.

In 2022 the hospitals discussed a joint plan to bring a new hospital to the region. 

Since then, they have received feedback on possible locations after a consultation process with the community last year.

Officials said current hospital sites will remain operational, with no immediate changes or impacts on patient care as a result of the potential merge.

The hospitals said it is working toward one senior leadership team including one CEO but it is still undetermined who that will be.

“In terms of our frontline staff, we think it's a great opportunity for staff to look at different things that they may be wanting to do with an amalgamated organization,” said Hanmer in an interview with CTV News.

Officials said they are aiming to have the new hospital ready by 2034.