Site Selection Process for a Proposed New Hospital
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The Lakeridge Health Board of Trustees has accepted the independent Expert Panel’s recommendation to protect a site in Whitby for a proposed future hospital in Durham Region.
The recommendation was provided to the Board following a phased process that included a comprehensive public consultation on the criteria used to score site proposals, a public Call for Proposals to interested landowners, and a rigorous evaluation and scoring process.
The preferred site is located on 50 acres of land south of Highway 407, west of Highway 412, east of Lake Ridge Road and north of Highway 7/Winchester Road. The location is easily accessible due to its proximity to major existing highways and roadways, as well as planned public transit. Its location in central Durham Region will help to serve residents across the region.
Durham Region needs a new hospital. And a new hospital is a key capital investment in Lakeridge Health’s Master Plan. It takes approximately 10 years to build a new hospital, so Lakeridge Health needs to move forward now.
The proposed development of a new hospital in Durham Region is a major component of Lakeridge Health’s Master Plan, which serves as a roadmap for the future of health-care delivery in Durham Region. Based on evidence and growth projections, Lakeridge Health is planning for inpatient bed growth of almost 1,000 beds to meet projected demand over the next 25 years. Anchoring this plan are recommended key capital investments and upgrades, including the expansion and redevelopment of Bowmanville Hospital and the proposed new hospital for Durham Region.
Lakeridge Health’s Board of Trustees determined that an important step forward included the process to identify and protect a site for a proposed new hospital. This process was facilitated by an Independent Expert Panel and guided by a Fairness Advisor.
In January 2022, the Board of Trustees accepted the Expert Panel’s recommendation of the site in Whitby as the preferred location for a proposed future hospital.
Public Consultation – Site Selection Criteria
In July and August 2021, Lakeridge Health launched a public consultation to give members of the community an opportunity to provide input on what is important to them when it comes to selecting a site for a future hospital.
Durham Region community members eagerly shared their thoughts on the site selection criteria through a public survey, focus groups with subject matter experts, and a Facebook Live community townhall. The feedback received through the public consultation activities helped the Expert Panel finalize the site selection criteria that was used to score all land proposals.
A summary of feedback received from the consultation is available HERE.
The results from the public survey and opinion polling are available HERE.
Greg Dadd – Senior Fairness Advisor and Corporate Lead
Greg Dadd, as a Principal consultant at Optimus SBR, heads our Procurement and Fairness Advisory Services, leading the management and ongoing development of this consulting practice. He is accountable for delivering high priority projects and is a Senior Fairness Advisor and our Corporate Lead.Greg has held senior positions within the public sector, as Director, Supply and Financial Services with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), and more recently as Chief Operating Officer of Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC), the agency which managed all activities involving the provincial government’s real estate portfolio. As a previous senior executive with responsibility for procurement throughout his career, Greg brings a range of experience in public procurement, providing strategic direction, executive oversight, team leadership, and detailed direction on including individual complex procurements and entire procurement programs valued at more than $100 million annually. He has direct hands-on experience with all procurement activities to ensure integrity, fairness, and best value in large-scale and complex acquisitions, including a number of outsourced contracts that were complex, highly visible, and politically sensitive.
As a previous senior executive with responsibility for procurement throughout his career, Greg brings a range of experience in public procurement, providing strategic direction, executive oversight, team leadership, and detailed direction on including individual complex procurements (including Information and Information Technology (I&IT) programs and services) and entire procurement programs valued at more than $100 million annually. He has direct hands-on experience with all procurement activities to ensure integrity, fairness and best value in large-scale and complex acquisitions, including a number of outsourced contracts that were complex, highly visible and politically sensitive.
Greg has completed multiple assignments in a Fairness Advisor role, providing the practical application of his earlier career experience and accountability for ensuring fair public procurement processes. Greg has been engaged as a Fairness Commissioner for a number of high-profile, complex multi-phase infrastructure projects valued in excess of $300 million in addition to multiple I&IT-related procurement projects. All the Infrastructure Ontario projects as well as other of Greg’s engagements have dealt with alternate procurement approaches, including multi-phase procurements (REOI/RFI, RFQ/RFSQ, RFP), and supplier interaction including multiple vendor engagement in commercially confidential meetings during all those phases. He has also been a Fairness Advisor for I&IT Limited Negotiation RFPs including a final “Best and Final Offer” (BAFO) procurement process.
Greg is very familiar with I&IT systems-related procurement strategies. While in the OPS, he participated in the planning and acquisition of organization and enterprise-level information technology and associated services. Greg was a member of MOHLTC’s I&IT Priority Review Board, whose function was to review business cases and set priorities for ministry program IT requirements. At the OPS corporate level, he was also a member of the e-Procurement Project Group, Co-Chair of the Information Technology Procurement Advisory Committee and the Team Leader of the Selection Committee for the acquisition of the government’s Integrated Financial Information System (IFIS). As COO at the Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC), Greg had responsibility for corporate I&IT (the CIO was a direct report) and Executive Lead for the enhancement of the corporate financial system (SAP) and development and implementation of new business applications for procurement, asset management and project delivery.
Through all the experiences noted above, Greg gained a clear understanding of a typical technology-related procurement cycle, including: development of business and technical criteria; use of Requests for Expressions of Interest/Information and Vendor Engagement meetings to determine current market capability; development of the RFP and associated technical and pricing documents (e.g. critical/mandatory and desirable capabilities, licensing and payment options, technical support services requirements – both human resources and internal data centre versus offsite location/hosted or cloud-based services options); evaluation criteria; vendor demonstrations to validate product capabilities and/or “proof of concept”; negotiations with the preferred proponent, and contract award and management.
Greg has very well-developed oral and written communications skills. Throughout his career, he has had to prepare and deliver presentations and associated supporting materials for briefings to senior management up to and including Ministers and the Secretary of Cabinet, as well as Boards of Directors. He has appeared before Cabinet and Public Accounts committees and made presentations in public forums and to Federal government organizations and committees. Greg was a part-time faculty member of the Canadian Forces Staff College, and in that capacity, reviewed and critiqued student submissions such as subject-matter papers and short theses, and assessed student presentation skills and materials. This experience has specifically contributed to his engaging training and facilitation sessions.
Greg’s responsibilities, both in his prior career as a senior public servant responsible for procurement and as a Fairness Commissioner, have required him to have expert knowledge of the standards of fairness and the legal framework of applicable trade agreements and government guidelines that regulate public sector procurement practices. One of his recent engagements included the need to become thoroughly familiar with the new trade agreements that came into effect in 2017 (Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) and the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA)) and their implications and application to public sector procurements. In addition, he has collaborated with legal advisors on many large and complex procurement projects, including consultations on the wording of terms and conditions, conflicts of interest identification and mitigation, as well as compliance disqualifications.
About Optimus SBR
Optimus SBR is an independently owned professional services firm with a focus on providing customized advisory services to organizations. The firm has a robust health-care practice area and has provided fairness services for a variety of large and complex projects – making them well-positioned to support the Panel through the site selection process. The Fairness Advisor’s role will ensure that the site selection process is transparent and unbiased by all involved parties.
Protecting a site for a proposed new hospital needs to be an independent and transparent process. To accomplish this, an Independent Expert Panel will lead the process. The Independent Expert Panel is made up of health care and real estate development professionals with no employment, residency, or financial ties to Durham Region and were selected based on skillsets that the Board’s Site Selection Committee approved.
The Independent Expert Panel will be responsible for all aspects of the site selection process, including establishing criteria to evaluate each site that is brought forward from interested members of the community. After evaluating all site proposals against these criteria, the Panel will make a recommendation for the preferred site to the Board of Trustees, who will then make a recommendation to the Minister of Health on which site to protect for future hospital use.
Members of the Independent Expert Panel
Expert Panel Chair
Altaf Stationwala – President and CEO, Mackenzie Health
Altaf has held numerous leadership positions at health-care facilities including Mackenzie Health, Mount Sinai Hospital and William Osler Health System. He is the past Chair of the Ontario Hospital Association and brings a wealth of knowledge about the province’s health-care sector to the Panel. As Chair, Altaf will be responsible for overseeing the Panel’s work and his experience in recently developing a new hospital will be key.
Hospital CEO and Health Care Leaders
Janice Skot – President and CEO, Royal Victoria Health Centre
Janice is an experienced health care professional as current President and CEO of Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and past CEO at Laurentian Hospital and Northeastern Ontario Regional Cancer Centre. Janice will support the Panel with her expertise in patient-centered care and will bring an important lens to how to define and drive culture to achieve strategic results.
Dr. Jack Kitts – Former President and CEO, The Ottawa Hospital
Dr. Kitts was President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital since 2002 before his retirement in June 2020. He is a sought-after health care leader and known nationally for his focus and expertise in patient experience and performance measurement, and physician engagement. Dr. Kitts’ perspective will be vital as the Panel looks at identifying a site that will best support all the communities across Durham Region.
Helena Hutton – Former Executive Vice President, Southlake Regional Health Centre (retired)
Helena is a Senior Executive with a broad range of career experiences and 35 years of experience in the health-care sector. Prior to her retirement in 2020, she was the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President – Clinical Programs at Southlake Regional Health Centre. Helena concurrently held the position of Regional Vice President, Central Cancer Program with Ontario Health/Cancer Care Ontario and will bring this in-depth clinical expertise to the Panel.
Health Care Development
Paul Clarry – President, Paul Clarry Health Care Infrastructure Planning and Former Vice President, Planning, Facilities, and Support Services, Southlake Regional Health Centre
Paul has significant expertise in health-care infrastructure as President of Paul Clarry Health Care Infrastructure Planning Inc. He has over 35 years of hospital and public sector experience and has held leadership positions at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Southlake Regional Health Centre, and the Ontario Hospital Association. This infrastructure experience will be invaluable as the Panel reviews all potential sites for the proposed future hospital.
Real Estate Development
Gary Whitelaw – Former CEO, BentallGreenOak
Gary has over three decades of experience in all aspects of real estate and investment, financial management, governance and environmental sustainability, construction, and more. Prior to retirement, he was the CEO of BentallGreenOak for 22 years. Gary’s expertise in these fields will support the Panel’s comprehensive site selection process.
Executive Lead
Scott McLeod – Former CEO, Central West Local Health Integration Network
Scott was previously the CEO of Central West Local Health Integration Network and has held leadership positions at Trillium Health Partners, Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network, Agnew Peckham, and Halton Peel District Health Council. Scott is well-positioned to provide expertise on the integration and transformation of health care, executive leadership, board governance, and strategy and execution. As Executive Lead, Scott will focus on consultation and engagement with the community, elected officials, and landowners during the process. As Executive Lead, he will also keep Lakeridge Health’s senior management team and Board informed throughout the review.
Latest updates on our independent site selection process for a proposed new hospital:
- January 6, 2022: Lakeridge Health Board of Trustees Accepts Recommendation to Protect Whitby Site for Proposed Future Hospital
- October 15, 2021: Lakeridge Health Expert Panel Moving to Stage 2 in the Proposal Call Process for Identification of a Site for Proposed New Hospital
- September 21, 2021: Lakeridge Health Issues Call for Proposals for Identification of a Site for Proposed New Hospital
- August 24, 2021: Public Notice: Call for Proposals Coming in September for the Identification of a Site for Proposed New Hospital
- June 10, 2021: Site Selection Independent Expert Panel Announced
- May 26, 2021: Building the future health care system in Durham Region
- July 16, 2021: Lakeridge Health Launches Public Consultation on Site Selection Criteria for a Proposed Hospital in Durham Region