Lakeridge Health Whitby

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Lakeridge Health Whitby is a clinic in Whitby, Ontario, offering specialized health services to the Durham Region.HistoryThe clinic originally was opened as a full-service hospital for the town of Whitby on December 17, 1969, named the Dr. J.O. Ruddy General Hospital. The complex was a combined medical and psychiatric hospital, the first in North America. The hospital maintained a high ranking from the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation since it was first surveyed in 1971, receiving a four-year 'distinction' accreditation in 1995. The hospital was renamed Whitby General Hospital in 1987.In 1998 the hospital, along with Memorial Hospital Bowmanville, North Durham Health Services, and Oshawa General Hospital, were placed under the administration of the Lakeridge Health Corporation, an amalgamation completed under the Common Sense Revolution of the Mike Harris administration. The government had created the Health Services Restructuring Committee and, under their recommendation, the Lakeridge Corporation was to place the town of Whitby under the service of Lakeridge Health Oshawa and would close Whitby General. However, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care reversed this decision in 2001 and allowed the complex to stay open, albeit not as a full-service hospital but a specialty clinic.