Hospital shutdowns in Ontario are no longer confined to rural communities – they’re happening right in our own backyard.
The building that houses Neuro Rehab Clinics at the Toronto Rehabilitation Rumsey Centre, located near Sunnybrook Hospital in North Leaside, will close in fall 2025, according to sources close to the matter.
In a statement, Janet Newton, clinical vice president at University Health Network (UHN), confirmed the news of the closure. She added that “the decision to close the building that houses the UHN Neuro Rehab clinics at Toronto Rehab Rumsey Site was based solely on the condition of the facility. … extensive repairs are needed and after a thorough review, it was determined that the cost of repair was greater than closing the building.”
According to its website, UHN operates one other outpatient brain injury rehab facility, Toronto Rehab-University Centre. Patients from the Rumsey Centre will be redirected to this facility, as well as UHN’s other rehab clinics, including Toronto Rehab Lyndhurst Centre and West Park Health Centre.
The facility’s neighbouring building that houses the Cardiac Rehab Centre will not be affected by the closure.
In her statement Newton said that “this transition will not change the services offered or the scope of care provided.” However, not everyone is reassured. A former employee who wished to remain anonymous claimed that this is just the latest chapter in a long saga of “forced amalgamations” that result in “watered down” patient care.
“Whenever acute care merges with a rehab hospital, that rehab hospital always loses,” she said, adding that “patients used to get three to six months of inpatient care followed by three to 12 months of outpatient care. We have cut that down to one month in inpatients and then four to six weeks of outpatients. … the brain does not heal that quickly … Rumsey Neuro helped those most vulnerable manage their often invisible disabilities.”
The shutdown comes amidst concerns of a reduction in the availability of local healthcare province wide. In 2023, a hospital in Minden was permanently closed, while a 2024 CBC investigation found that one in five hospitals had a temporary shutdown, making it the worst year on record. The top reason cited for closures was a lack of staff.
The Rumsey Centre can trace its roots to the original Toronto Rehabilitation Centre, founded in 1922. In 1998, it became a part of the newly formed Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. In 2011, the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute merged with UHN.
UHN’s Newton assured that patients would receive “ample notice of relocation details.”
This article was guest contributed by Jake Ross.