A failed merger was done between the two hospital networks in 2014.[2] This was until the then Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins ordered the dissolution of RVHS, and transferred Centenary Hospital's administration to The Scarborough Hospital, creating the merger by December 1, 2016. The new network of the three hospitals was tentatively named the Scarborough and Rouge Hospital (SRH),[3] until 2018 when it was officially renamed the Scarborough Health Network.[4]
As SHN
On January 24, 2019, the Scarborough Health Network approved the closure of pediatrics and obstetrics services at the Birchmount Hospital. As of 2019, the hospital network plans to reduce the number of hospital sites from three to two by 2031. In the three expansion options, the Centenary Hospital is planned for renovation while both the General and Birchmount hospitals are alternatively considered for shutdown as a new hospital will be built at a different site in Scarborough. A local campaign known as Save the Grace, headed by Toronto city councillorJim Karygiannis, appeals to the Government of Ontario to save the Birchmount Hospital.[5]
In 2023, SHN will begin construction on the new Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre in the Bridletowne community at Warden and Finch Avenues, a project in collaboration between the YMCA of Greater Toronto and United Way Greater Toronto. Apart from facilities to be put up by YMCA and United Way, this structure will feature SHN’s Dialysis and Chronic Disease Clinics, expanding their hemodialysis and chronic kidney disease programs in the network. Initially pledged by the former Liberal-led government of Ontario in 2017,[6] this was made possible through SHN's Love, Scarborough campaign.[7]
Advertising
In January 2022, SHN through the Scarborough Health Network Foundation launched Love, Scarborough, their $ 100 million advertising and fundraising campaign, focused on bringing awareness to the lack of hospital donations and adequate healthcare support for Scarborough compared to other Toronto hospital networks and institutions.[8]
^"Community-Affiliated Hospitals and Sites". University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2010. Nineteen hospitals and healthcare sites in southern Ontario are community affiliates of the University of Toronto (U of T).
