Niagara Health System

Niagara Health System
Geography
Location	Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario, Canada
Organization
Care system	Public Medicare (Canada) (OHIP)
Type	Public
Services
Emergency department	Site Dependent
Beds	Over 800
History
Opened	2005
Links
Website	niagarahealth.on.ca
Lists	Hospitals in Canada

The Niagara Health System, or Niagara Health (NH), is a Canadian multi-site hospital amalgamation, comprising five sites serving over 450,000 residents across the 12 municipalities making up the Regional Municipality of Niagara, Canada. Niagara Health is one of Ontario's largest hospital systems, with 4,800 employees, 600 physicians and 850 volunteers. As of 2019, its annual operating budget was approximately $550 million.

History

Niagara Health is the result of a government directive, in 1999, to amalgamate the five hospital sites serving the Regional Municipality of Niagara. At that time, the St. Catharines community was served by the Shaver Hospital, for chronic care, the Hotel Dieu Hospital, a Catholic acute care facility managed by the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, and the St. Catharines General Hospital. With amalgamation, the Hotel Dieu was placed under the governance and management of Niagara Health and renamed the Ontario Street Site. Meanwhile, the Shaver was assumed by Hotel Dieu management and renamed Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre.

In 2013, Niagara Health opened the one-million-square-foot St. Catharines Site, replacing the St. Catharines General and Ontario Street sites.

In 2018, the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake assumed ownership of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Site.

Facilities

• Fort Erie Site
• Niagara Falls Site
• Port Colborne Site
• St. Catharines Site
• Welland Site

Controversies

Niagara was under an Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) censure from February 2003 until December 2010. According to an Ontario Nurses Association press release in June 2007, censuring is ONA's nationwide public reproach of a health agency due to the negative impact on staff and patient care, of poor labour relations and administrative practices.

In October 2008, the Niagara Health System Medical Staff Association passed a non-confidence vote in the NHS leadership by a vote of 136 to 76.