QCH was officially opened on October 5, 1976, by then Ontario Premier William Davis and currently serves a population of more than 500,000 and is the secondary referral center for the Ottawa Valley.

[7] Between 2003 and 2005, Phase 2 of the expansion was approved to allow for significant growth in the emergency department, the busiest single-site emergency department in Eastern Ontario with almost 78,000 visits yearly in 2017; in-patient medicine; and surgery units, ICU and surgery capacity; and incremental growth in other clinical and support areas.

[10] In 2014, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli announced the approval of a new 34-bed Acute Care of the Elderly (ACE) Unit at QCH.

Pierre Poilievre, Federal MP representing the riding of Nepean—Carleton, attempted to reduce the rent of the hospital to $1 per year during his first term in office.

Poilievre was re-elected in the 2006 Federal election and was named Parliamentary secretary to John Baird, President of the Treasury Board.