Exciting new vision will transform care in northern York Region and southern Simcoe County by creating a Distributed Health Network
For 100 years and counting, Southlake has built healthy communities through leading edge care, innovative partnerships, and amazing people. To chart the next 10 years of care, it is proud to unveil a new strategy that leverages its expertise to build a Distributed Health Network that provides leading edge care, closer to home as the newly named – Southlake Health. Southlake Health better reflects a renewed focus on integrated, patient-centred care, signaling a commitment to delivering care across the continuum—whether in hospital settings, outpatient facilities, through community-based programs, virtually or at home.
“Today, we begin to build on Southlake’s incredible 100-year foundation in a bold new way,” said Marilee Harris, Board Chair, Southlake Health. “Our commitment to expanding care closer to home by taking a distributed approach, along with our partners, is a response to our communities’ needs and a reflection of our mission to always put people first.”
In March, Southlake launched a comprehensive internal and external consultation process that resulted in more than 1,200 engagements. The engagements reinforced that the need for leading edge care, close to home has never been greater. The municipalities Southlake serves are among the fastest growing and aging in the province, and without any material acute care expansion in over 20 years, Southlake has become an epicentre of hallway healthcare in Ontario. When faced with these challenges, Southlake’s communities were clear – increase access to high-quality care, closer to home.
“Southlake has successfully provided services from both the hospital and various community-based locations across northern York Region and southern Simcoe County for quite some time,” said Paul Woods, MD, President and CEO, Southlake Health. “With our new strategy, we are doubling down on this approach by embracing an exciting new vision for the future of healthcare.”
Anchored by its Davis Drive site and existing community-based locations, Southlake will work with partners to establish additional footholds across the municipalities it serves to tackle hallway healthcare by developing a Distributed Health Network. Key to this will be the creation of a second hospital site and the redevelopment of the Davis Drive campus. Southlake will also expand beyond its walls all together, with a focus on virtual care and by leveraging learnings from its successful Southlake@home program.
“The modern hospital is much more than a building – it is a constellation of expertise that must adapt to patients’ changing needs and the evolving healthcare landscape,” said Dr. Woods. “By shifting away from traditional thinking that sees hospitals as simple bricks and mortar facilities, we can better appreciate their true value — harnessing the collective expertise, compassion, and experience of our people to deliver care in new and flexible ways.”
Fueled by transformative philanthropy from generous donors, Southlake will continue to focus on what it does best – providing leading edge care to the communities that rely on it.
“With the support of our communities, Southlake has been able to provide leading edge care, close to home for 100 years, but this next chapter will require all of us to have transformational philanthropy in our sights – inspiring some of the most significant investments in our history,” said Jennifer Ritter, President and CEO, Southlake Health Foundation. “We have achieved incredible things together, and this new plan will put us on a path to achieve an extraordinary legacy of care for our communities.”
By evolving into a Distributed Health Network, Southlake will improve outcomes and experiences for patients, families and caregivers, while also enhancing satisfaction for its teams, addressing health equity concerns and ensuring sustainability. Learn more by reading the full strategy document at www.southlake.ca/strategy.
Quick Facts
- Southlake provides care to two of Ontario’s four fastest growing municipalities – East Gwillimbury and Bradford West Gwillimbury. Southlake’s catchment area is growing at twice the rate of the province as a whole.
- Since 2003, Southlake’s Emergency Department volumes have doubled. Southlake now sees over 120,000 visits each year, meaning a new patient arrives at the Emergency Department every four and a half minutes.
- Having stretched capacity to serve patients in space half the size required by today’s standards, Southlake has launched an open call for proposals to identify land suitable to build a second hospital.
- As part of the Distributed Health Network, Southlake will establish Advanced Care Campuses, multifunctional spaces that will be developed to support high-quality care closer to home to help reduce hallway healthcare.
- Last June, Southlake signed a new memorandum of understanding with the Town of Georgina and the Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team, establishing a formal relationship to improve local health and wellness.
- Southlake’s Restorative Care Units will continue to provide specialized, restorative care that focuses on patients’ specific needs and goals, while working to foster independence and optimize their strengths and abilities.
- Southlake’s distributed approach to care will be powered by a focus on care management and coordination, clinical remote monitoring, and virtual care services.
