2000-2009: A Decade of Change

The dawn of the new millennium signalled huge changes to, and challenges for, The Scarborough Hospital. The overriding theme, however, might best be described as ‘adaptability’.

The amalgamation of the Scarborough General Hospital and the Salvation Army Grace Hospital into The Scarborough Hospital in 1999 was a voluntary arrangement that brought together two very different healthcare organizations serving a large, rapidly growing and diverse community.

Originally met with some trepidation by staff and physicians at both campuses, the amalgamation remains a work in progress that means new approaches in the way TSH is delivering healthcare throughout our catchment area. 

What would ironically jumpstart the creation of an unbreakable bond between the two campuses would also prove to be the greatest test that any healthcare organization can face: a new, unknown virus. In 2003, The Scarborough Hospital was forced into the frontline of an international health crisis by being the first hospital in Ontario to confront SARS.

The lessons learned from SARS led to a complete overhaul in how infection control measures would be implemented in healthcare facilities around the world. It naturally altered the way healthcare would be delivered at The Scarborough Hospital, prompting design changes to construction plans for the future Emergency and Critical Care Centre to reflect a stronger focus on infection control: a larger emergency department, more single and isolation rooms, a redesigned ICU, and negative pressure rooms.

In 2004, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care presented The Scarborough Hospital with a $30 million capital grant for the new West Wing Emergency and Critical Care Centre. It was also around this time that the hospital’s Diagnostic Imaging department went completely filmless.

The decade brought a number of exciting openings to The Scarborough Hospital: a new fracture clinic, a $9.4 million Family Maternity Centre, a new oncology clinic, a new Eye Centre,  a new 16-bed Palliative Care Unit and, of course, the $72 million West Wing at the General campus.

Peppered throughout the decade were also many leading-edge initiatives that have put The Scarborough Hospital at the forefront of innovative healthcare delivery: a regional MRI program, a breast-screening program in conjunction with Cancer Care Ontario, the Home Hemodialysis program, a Mobile Crisis Intervention Team working with local police, a Kidney Disease Prevention Initiative, an E-Stroke Referral System and a new Rapid Admission Unit.

Governance became a major challenge in the latter half of the decade when the province appointed a Supervisor following a series of court challenges involving the hospital board and some community members. A detailed community consultation process began that would lead to a brand new management style at The Scarborough Hospital: a new Board of Directors, a new President and CEO, a new Code of Conduct and a completely new way of interacting with the community and within the hospital itself.

As the first decade of the second millennium draws to a close, The Scarborough Hospital looks ahead to a renewed determination to continue our efforts to improve healthcare delivery, strengthen community and patient relations, and provide a safe and cooperative environment for patients, staff, physicians and Volunteers.