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The medical director of pediatrics at Health Sciences North says people should not be concerned by a smaller dollar amount attached to a proposal to build a new outpatient children’s health centre at the hospital.
The hospital's initial proposal last year, which the North East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) rejected because it said the business case was not strong enough, called for a $55-million investment to build the centre, with an $8.4-million contribution from Health Sciences North.
The new proposal, which the North East LHIN approved Tuesday, cut that investment to $49 million, but increased the hospital's contribution to $11 million.
All that was cut, said pediatrician Dr. Sean Murray, who has spearheaded the project for years and has been the most public face of the effort to expand pediatric care in Greater Sudbury, was a plan for an underground parking lot at the facility.
“In the end, there will be more clinical infrastructure and clinical space than we had previously,” he said.
Murray added there is currently sufficient parking at the proposed location for the new facility. The proposed underground parking lot, he said, drove up costs and did not contribute to patient care, so could easily be dropped from the plan.
The expansion in clinical infrastructure will also come with a more robust mental health component.
Murray said he was thrilled with the North East LHIN's decision to support the proposal the second time around.
“Everybody is very excited about it,” he said. “There are very few people that I've talked to that haven't been absolutely over the moon with the decision and their willingness to jump on board.”
With the North East LHIN's support, the next step is for the proposal to be submitted to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, where it will compete with projects from across the province for capital dollars.
Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault has also said he will lend his support to the proposal to expand NEO Kids.
“I think that's good news for the NEO Kids Foundation, for NEO Kids and the hospital,” he told Sudbury.com. “The first step was getting the support of the LHIN, which they've done, and now my work begins.
"I'm in support of the idea of having a NEO Kids in Sudbury.”
Thibeault also congratulated the hospital for reworking its proposal from the original $55-million plan, to a smaller $49-million investment for the expanded space.
“I'm glad they're starting to recognize that dollars aren't as free as they used to be and we have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” he said.
