Oct. 5, 2007/- The provincial agency responsible for hospital redevelopment has made a major announcement about KGH. Infrastructure Ontario has released a request for proposals (RFP) to build and finance the hospital expansion.

The Kingston General Hospital project will provide 170,000 square feet of
additional space and will renovate 143,000 square feet of the existing
facility.

The following five building teams were short-listed through a request for
qualifications issued in April 2007 and have been invited to bid on the
project:

- Bondfield Construction Co. Ltd.
- EllisDon Corporation
- M. Sullivan & Son Limited
- PCL Constructors
- Vanbots Construction Corp.

These building teams have the construction, operational, and financial
capacity required to undertake a project of this size and complexity. Once
submissions to the RFP are received and reviewed, a winning team will be
selected in spring 2008, with construction scheduled to begin shortly after.

Infrastructure Ontario is working with Kingston General Hospital to
redevelop the hospital, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled
and publicly accountable. Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation
dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex
infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on
budget.

Backgrounder

Kingston General Hospital (KGH) is a 456-bed teaching hospital affiliated
with Queen's University, which serves more than 500,000 people in southeastern
Ontario and is home to the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario.

KGH provides an array of specialized acute and ambulatory clinical
services including trauma, cardiac, stroke, paediatric, perinatal, end stage
renal and stem cell transplants. KGH is dedicated to compassionate, high
quality health care in an academic research environment training 1,900 health
care students annually.

Highlights of the redevelopment project include:

- Expansion of the Level 3 Intensive Care Unit from 21 beds up to a
range of 33 beds. Patients will have increased access to receive the
most urgent care needed in a family oriented environment which will
include a family lounge area and quiet consultation rooms.
- Construction of a new unit for inpatient mental health will provide a
safe treatment setting for acutely ill patients.
- Expansion and renovation of the Cancer Centre of Southeastern
Ontario, including:
- the addition of two new radiation bunkers to increase treatment
capacity;
- increasing the overall size of the Cancer Centre from
54,445 square feet to 91,085 square feet;
- increasing the number of chemotherapy treatment chairs from the
current 15 up to 39 chairs;
- a specialized clinic area for paediatric patients in an overall
environment that will enhance privacy and dignity for patients.
By increasing services, patients will have better access to the care
they need close to home. The expansion will allow the Cancer Centre
to better meet current patient volumes and the expected volumes in
coming years.
- Construction of a new, expanded 40-station in-centre Kidney Dialysis
Unit. The newly designed space will provide enhanced comfort, privacy
and dignity for a growing patient population who are some of the most
acute and fragile patients from across Ontario.
- A new 25-bed unit for inpatient paediatrics, where all paediatric
care will be consolidated within a central area. Consolidating
critical care services for paediatric patients enables staff to
provide a seamless program of care and better access to specialist
consultations. This portion of the overall project will result in a
34 per cent increase in space to 18,000 square feet.
- A new unit for 32 medical-surgical beds. The new unit will consist of
more single and isolation rooms than has been typical in existing
units.
- Expansion and upgrade of Central Processing Services (CPS), a key
support to surgical services. CPS provides key support including the
cleaning, decontamination, sterilization and assembly of reusable
instrument sets and reprocessable patient care items. At present, CPS
processes 50,000 instrument trays a year.

An improved work environment and modernized facilities will help Kingston
General Hospital retain and attract some of the brightest caregivers,
students, clinicians and researchers. The Kingston General Hospital project
will comprise 170,000 square feet of new construction and 143,000 square feet
of renovations. The project will be implemented in three phases to ensure
continuous operation of the hospital.