A promising future for the Lachine Hospital
Montreal, April 26, 2023 – The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) announces today its decision regarding the clinical plan of the Lachine Hospital of the MUHC and to confirm that it will become a community hospital. This decision follows discussions with numerous stakeholders, receipt of the gap analysis report between the current situation and two scenarios, and discussions with Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) authorities.
It is important to note that the work included discussions with elected officials at the provincial and municipal levels, community members, including a patient-partner, representatives from the MSSS, the Département régional de médecine générale de Montréal (DRGM), the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of McGill University, the heads of the MUHC medical departments involved in the Lachine Hospital, the Lachine Hospital’s clinical leaders and employees. In addition, we also took the time to consider the opinions of citizens, who sent us numerous messages through letters, emails, phone calls and during public meetings of the MUHC Board of Directors.
As a result, the Lachine Hospital Emergency Department will gradually reopen over the next few months to finally be able to receive walk-in patients and ambulances 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the coming weeks, we will appoint a manager who will be responsible for overseeing the operations of the hospital. By September 2023, a working group led by the Director of Professional Services and, among others, composed of experts mandated by the MSSS will put in place the prerequisites for this reopening, which will also allow for the admissions of patients with more acute conditions.
Inpatient units, which currently include 36 beds, will be gradually expanded over the next 12 to 18 months by an additional 20 beds to meet a variety of clinical needs. These will open as staffing and family physician recruitment permit.
In addition, after the analysis of several factors, including the fact that the Lachine Hospital is located in an urban area a few kilometres from other hospitals that offer these services, the Intensive Care Unit will not reopen. Protocols for transferring patients to other sites, which have been in place for over a year, will remain in place.
The analysis work of the last few months allowed for discussions of avenues of development for the departments of surgery, imaging and specialized medicine at the Lachine Hospital. The development of these projects will continue, as will the Lachine Hospital’s $220 million modernization project.
A transition process involving various community stakeholders will be put in place to ensure a smooth deployment of the various services. We thank all those who have contributed to this important repositioning work that lays the foundation for the Lachine Hospital's revival and we wish to invite the community to work together to ensure its promising future.