The Ontario government says it is connecting communities throughout Georgian Bay and Simcoe Muskoka to mental health supports by investing in a new inpatient acute care unit at the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care. The new unit will expand access to specialized urgent mental health and addictions services, making it faster and easier for people and their families to connect to care closer to home.
“All Ontarians deserve to receive convenient care close to home, no matter where they live,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “By investing in a new inpatient acute care unit at Waypoint, our government is ensuring that people in the Georgian Bay region will have faster access to specialized mental health services and supports, when and where they need it most.”
This investment will support planning and construction to renovate over 10,000 square feet of existing space at Waypoint. Once complete, the new acute mental health inpatient unit will add an additional 20 beds to the facility and connect more people and their families in the region to a team of health care professionals who provide a full range of services in the main campus, including psychiatry, psychology, occupational and recreation therapy, and addictions counselling.
“Our government continues to take action to build a recovery-oriented continuum of care for mental health and addictions that serves the unique needs of people across the province,” said Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, “With this new inpatient unit at Waypoint, those in the region who are in need of immediate and urgent mental health care will be able to quickly access it.”
Ontario is working with Waypoint to continue to advance this project. As a next step, a fair, open, and transparent tender process is expected to begin in the new year with construction starting shortly after.
Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, Ontario is helping connect more Ontarians to convenient care to support mental health and wellness, closer to home.
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Quick Facts
- As of the end of 2022, Ontario has over 50 approved hospital development projects that will build more than 3,000 new hospital beds in communities across the province over the next 10 years. Ontario’s investments over the next decade will lead to over $48 billion in health infrastructure across the province.
- In 2020, Ontario released a strategy to build a world-class mental health and addictions system – Roadmap to Wellness: A Plan to Build Ontario’s Mental Health and Addictions System. Supported by a commitment to invest $3.8 billion over 10 years, Roadmap is adding capacity to meet demand, filling gaps in the care continuum, and creating a provincial infrastructure for a mental health and addictions continuum of care that connects primary, community, and acute care to better meet the needs of people with mental health and addictions issues.
- In Budget 2023, Ontario is building on its historic $3.8 billion investment by providing an additional $425 million over three years. This investment will provide community-based mental health and addictions service providers funded by the Ministry of Health with a five per cent increase in base funding.
- Since 2019-20, the government has flowed $525 million in new base funding for mental health and addictions services and supports. This funding is supporting a range of services, including child and youth mental health, community-based addictions services, supportive housing, mental health and justice, and Indigenous mental health and addictions.
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