| Scarborough Health Network | |
| Location: | Scarborough |
| Region: | Toronto |
| State: | Ontario |
| Country: | Canada |
| Healthcare: | Medicare |
| Type: | Community |
| Emergency: | Yes |
| Founded: | 1998 2016 (current form) |
| Website: | http://www.shn.ca |
Scarborough Health Network (SHN) is a hospital network in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It operates the Scarborough General, Centenary, and Birchmount hospitals. The three are major community health hospitals with teaching affiliations to the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine.[1]
In 1998, The Salvation Army merged the operations of Scarborough General and Scarborough Grace (now Birchmount) hospitals under its subsidiary The Scarborough Hospital, while Centenary Hospital was under the Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS).
A failed merger was done between the two hospital networks in 2014.[2] This was until the then Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins ordered the dissolution of RVHS, and transferred Centenary Hospital's administration to The Scarborough Hospital, creating the merger by December 1, 2016. The new network of the three hospitals was tentatively named the Scarborough and Rouge Hospital (SRH),[3] until 2018 when it was officially renamed the Scarborough Health Network.[4]
On January 24, 2019, the Scarborough Health Network approved the closure of pediatrics and obstetrics services at the Birchmount Hospital. As of 2019, the hospital network plans to reduce the number of hospital sites from three to two by 2031. In the three expansion options, the Centenary Hospital is planned for renovation while both the General and Birchmount hospitals are alternatively considered for shutdown as a new hospital will be built at a different site in Scarborough. A local campaign known as Save the Grace, headed by Toronto city councillor Jim Karygiannis, appeals to the Government of Ontario to save the Birchmount Hospital.[5]
In 2023, SHN will begin construction on the new Bridletowne Neighbourhood Centre in the Bridletowne community at Warden and Finch Avenues, a project in collaboration between the YMCA of Greater Toronto and United Way Greater Toronto. Apart from facilities to be put up by YMCA and United Way, this structure will feature SHN’s Dialysis and Chronic Disease Clinics, expanding their hemodialysis and chronic kidney disease programs in the network. Initially pledged by the former Liberal-led government of Ontario in 2017,[6] this was made possible through SHN's Love, Scarborough campaign.[7]
In January 2022, SHN through the Scarborough Health Network Foundation launched Love, Scarborough, their $ 100 million advertising and fundraising campaign, focused on bringing awareness to the lack of hospital donations and adequate healthcare support for Scarborough compared to other Toronto hospital networks and institutions.[8]