KHSC to decommission temporary acute care site on Union Street

Due to the downward trend of COVID-19-related hospitalization in the area, Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) will decommission its pandemic alternate health facility (or ‘field hospital’) by Thursday, Jun. 30, 2022.

According to a release from KHSC, provincial funding for certain large-scale pandemic management activities is coming to an end, and with it, the 70-bed alternate health facility at 340 Union Street, put in place at the request of the Ministry of Health. 

The facility was designed to be activated quickly in the event of surging patient volumes due to COVID-19, ensuring critical care capacity at KHSC’s main hospital sites, the hospital agency stated. The facility was readied to provide care for non-COVID, medically stable patients.   

“We came within days of opening the site in April 2021 as more critical care patients from outside the area transferred to our Kingston General Hospital site. Thankfully, transfers levelled off and we had sufficient capacity without opening the alternate health facility,” said Dr. David Pichora, President and CEO of KHSC.  

“We are proud of the teamwork and partnerships involved in creating this safety net of space, staffing and services that would have let us continue providing the same level of medical care that patients receive across KHSC,” he stated. 

According to the release, the decommissioning process includes repatriating medical equipment to KHSC’s two hospital sites to support equipment needs and/or to replace older equipment. The alternate health facility shared the Union Street site, leased from Queen’s University, with Providence Care’s Providence Transitional Care Centre and the space will now revert to management by Providence Care, KHSC shared.  

“We would like to offer our sincere thanks to Providence Care and Queen’s University for being such accommodating hosts over the last 15 months. This partnership has been an example of our community’s ability to work together to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Pichora.