The longstanding, never-realized plan to build a health centre in Orléans is getting enough provincial funding to produce building plans, Health Minister Eric Hoskins announced Thursday.



When it’s eventually constructed, the facility is supposed to include many of the features of a hospital without inpatient beds: specialists, diagnostic imaging, physical rehabilitation, mental-health services, treatment for chronic conditions and more. It’s variously been called a polyclinic, a mini-hospital and most recently a “health hub.”



It’s been in the works for years and years. Many ministers have made the trip to east Ottawa to announce it was finally happening. The government once gave it a $150-million budget and a site on Mer Bleue Road, and said shovels would go into the ground in 2013. It’s taken so long that the plans have changed repeatedly, delaying the project more every time.



Now the health providers involved, led by the Montfort Hospital, know what services they want to include and the general specifications for a building. The province is supplying $5 million to get the project to the point where shovels can go into the ground, ideally by the end of the decade.



Orléans is a populous suburb but its nearest hospital is the Montfort, well inside the Greenbelt. That’s a long trek for people who need to see doctors for specialist care regularly; the idea is that an ambulatory care centre will make life easier for patients and keep them healthier, so they can stay out of much more expensive hospital beds.



dreevely@postmedia.com



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