The Manitoba government is launching a six-year, $1.5-billion rebuild of Health Sciences Centre (HSC) Winnipeg’s adult bed towers and upgrades to the Bannatyne campus. It is the largest health capital investment in Manitoba’s history, and it will allow HSC Winnipeg to provide even better and more specialized health services to more Manitoba families. The plan also includes expanded and modernized inpatient areas and a concentrated University of Manitoba health faculty program at the province’s largest teaching hospital. The project can start immediately thanks to the HSC Foundation’s acquisition of the Manitoba Clinic building, Premier Heather Stefanson and announced today.

“Our government is proud to announce this historic investment to heal our health-care system,” said Stefanson. “This $1.5-billion project will rebuild the core of what today is HSC Winnipeg. HSC is Manitoba’s hospital, home to specialized services that Manitoba families rely on. We are also making a significant investment in the education of our province’s future health-care providers–helping address the health-care staffing needs of tomorrow.”

The new building will be located along Sherbrook Street, between the HSC Children’s Hospital and the centre’s rehabilitation and respiratory facility. The project would replace existing obsolete facilities, parts of which date back to 1897, and others that were built in 1911, 1917, 1950, 1960, and 1968.

The investment in the new building, which is anticipated to be at least 10 storeys, will:

  • create approximately 240 new private patient rooms, each built to meet current infection prevention and control guidelines;
  • enable the use of general hospital acute rooms as private rooms;
  • establish campus space for new, complex procedural and diagnostic imaging services;
  • allow for expansion of the adult emergency department and associated clinic spaces to support patient treatment and flow; and
  • address clinical capacity needs, including space to expand critical care units in the future if needed.

HSC Winnipeg is the hub of Manitoba’s health-care system and the adult bed towers are the core of the hospital. The 240 new private patient rooms will be state of the art, providing better patient care, helping HSC Winnipeg continue attracting and retaining medical staff, and serving as a pillar of Manitoba’s health-care system. Work on the project will begin immediately, starting with some programs moving to a new, temporary location at the Manitoba Clinic building, so demolition and construction can start, thanks to the building being acquired by the HSC Foundation, the premier noted.

A long-term goal of the University of Manitoba is to concentrate health sciences faculties onto the Bannatyne campus to increase the education, learning and research capacity of students and staff. In preparation for these moves and to accommodate the university’s planned expansion of medical training seats, this investment includes $72 million in the first stage to expand the Rady faculty of health sciences infrastructure to support growing campus needs.

“When you improve HSC Winnipeg, you are improving a foundational piece of our health-care system. This project will have a tremendous positive impact on Manitoba, and the work is starting today, five years sooner, thanks to the HSC Foundation’s acquisition of the Manitoba Clinic,” said Health Minister Audrey Gordon. “We are fighting to heal health care and I want to commend the HSC Foundation for the initiative it has taken to ensure we can get started today.”

Today’s investment is the result of the Bannatyne campus master plan, which was developed to align with Manitoba’s Clinical and Preventive Services Plan and designed to ensure appropriate physical space, infrastructure and investments are available to support the highly specialized services located on the campus – for patients now and into the future.

“This is a historic day for HSC Winnipeg and for the thousands of families across Manitoba who count on the specialized care it provides every day,” said Jonathon Lyon, president and CEO, Health Sciences Centre Foundation. “We are pleased our acquisition of the Manitoba Clinic building can serve as a catalyst for a $1.5-billion investment in health-care services that touch every corner of the province.”

“This project will transform every critical aspect of HSC Winnipeg for the better,” said Dr. Perry Gray, provincial lead, medical specialist services and chief medical officer, Shared Health. “Over time, we will be able to replace old patient facilities and add capacity for improved medical care and more surgery capacity. We will expand our emergency room services and operating room capacity. And all of this will be located in state-of-the-art facilities, built to the latest, modern standards so we can continue providing the very best care for HSC Winnipeg patients and their families well into the future.”

“HSC Winnipeg is the biggest and busiest hospital in Manitoba, supporting the health-care needs of the province’s sickest and most injured patients,” said Dr. Shawn Young, chief operating officer, Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg. “We are excited to be moving forward on a project that will significantly reshape the Bannatyne campus, enhance patient care and provide a modernized care setting for more of our dedicated physicians and staff to work in.”

Negotiations on a long-term lease of approximately 70,000-sq.-ft. of space within the Manitoba Clinic building have been completed, with minor renovations anticipated to meet the needs of patients and clinical staff occurring over the next year, the minister noted.

Since 2016, the Manitoba government has invested billions in capital spending to improve and transform the province’s health-care system.