What will happen to the Montreal Children’s Hospital?

The Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre will keep its name and continue its 100-year tradition of providing innovative and outstanding care for children and adolescents in Quebec. While offering a broad range of primary and secondary care services, it will focus on its tertiary and quaternary (specialized and ultra-specialized) care programs. Its status as a Level I pediatric trauma centre will also be maintained.

A new facility will be built for pediatric and adolescent care on the Glen Campus, featuring a healing environment, increased access to new technology, a larger number of private rooms, spacious waiting rooms, and supervised indoor and outdoor recreational spaces where children can play safely.

Thanks to major advances in diagnosis, technology and medical practice, the outlook for children with diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis, congenital heart conditions and brain lesions or tumours has improved tremendously. Today, the majority of these children survive into adulthood, and will require specialized follow-up care throughout their lives. Once they reach 18, many find it disorienting to leave the comfort of the Children's and switch to a new team of caregivers. The close proximity between the MUHC's Montreal Children's Hospital and its adult facilities will enable these young adults to make a smooth transition between the pediatric and adult treating teams, and close cooperation between health care professionals will ensure that their care is well coordinated.

This cooperation will extend to the realm of research, opening up new avenues of investigation that may lead to improved treatment for a variety of chronic conditions that can worsen over time.