Aurora residents now have a clearer window into the future of their hospital. Southlake Health, the primary acute care hospital serving Aurora, launched a new digital hub in June 2026 that lets the community follow along as the institution becomes a Distributed Health Network.
The website offers regular project updates, answers to common questions, and details on how services will expand beyond the current Davis Drive campus in Newmarket. For Aurora, where Mayor Tom Mrakas has said Southlake “is an Aurora hospital,” the changes are meant to tackle long-standing overcrowding. Longtime resident Candi Woodruff noted that even decades ago, “I had my children at York County and even back then, it seemed like the hospital was ripping at the seams.”
The Distributed Health Network plan includes two hospital sites: a redeveloped Davis Drive campus and a new acute care hospital in East Gwillimbury, set to be built on land owned by Green Earth Village northwest of Queensville Sideroad and Leslie Street. The new facility will have an emergency department, inpatient units, and a surgical program. The network will also rely on community-based Advanced Care Centres in Bradford West Gwillimbury and Georgina, along with digital health partnerships to bring care closer to home.
In April, the Province of Ontario backed the vision with a $10 million investment to plan the Davis Drive redevelopment and construction of the East Gwillimbury hospital. Dr. Paul Woods, President and CEO of Southlake Health, said the effort “is about more than building hospitals and facilities” and will “redefine how care is delivered to better meet the care needs of our growing and aging communities.”
Southlake Health currently operates a 426-bed full-service regional hospital handling over 113,000 emergency visits, 24,000 inpatient admissions, and 530,000 outpatient visits each year. The new hub lets Aurora residents see exactly how that capacity is set to grow, with the online resource offering the latest on planning milestones and local events.
