Province delivers health care funding

Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker has announced that three local hospital corporations are receiving $6,661,000 in funding from the province.

Ontario is taking further action to end hallway health care by making increased investments in the province’s hospitals. Walker announced the additional funding for hospitals including:

  • Hanover and District Hospital – $144,000 increase
  • Grey Bruce Health Services – $6.19 million increase
  • South Bruce Grey Health Centre – $327,000 increase

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“Our government is supporting local hospitals by ensuring they have the resources they need to meet the growing needs of our community,” said Walker. “This new investment in our hospitals is another example of how Ontario is supporting high-quality and timely access to health care, while delivering on our commitment to end hallway health care.”

Across Ontario, the government is investing an additional $68 million to support small- and medium-sized hospitals. This new investment is on top of the $384 million more that Ontario’s hospitals received this year as part of the province’s 2019 budget.

This investment will help ensure that families in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound continue to have access to high-quality care; help put an end to hallway health care; address sector challenges and previous funding model inequities; promote the sustainability of hospital operations; and protect existing core services in communities across the province.

“Ontario has a comprehensive plan to end hallway health care,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Working with our hospital partners, we are fixing long-standing issues with how hospitals are funded that disadvantaged small- and medium-sized hospitals. We have listened to patients, frontline staff and key stakeholders to determine how we can fix historical inequities to provide financial stability and relief to hospitals, regardless of their size.”

“We are very pleased to receive this additional one-time funding to address some of the operational challenges of running six hospitals and an addictions treatment facility spread out over a geographically large, rural area,” said Gary Sims, President and CEO of Grey Bruce Health Services.  “These funds will allow us to temporarily increase hours for diagnostic services such as CT and MRI, and decrease our wait times for some surgeries such as hip and knee replacements and cataract surgery. This is good news for patients across Grey Bruce.”

“South Bruce Grey Health Centre is pleased to receive this funding from the Government of Ontario.  This funding will ensure that we can continue to provide high quality care to the patients we serve at all four of our sites,” said Michael Barrett, President and CEO of South Bruce Grey Health Centre. “The specific application of the funding has not yet been determined, but we anticipate that it will used to support important services including our emergency departments, surgery services and the family birthing centre.”

“Hanover and District Hospital is so appreciative of the Ministry of Health for this funding to support patient centre care initiatives,” said Hanover and District Hospital President and CEO Dana Howes.

This funding includes a province-wide increase in funding of one per cent for 66 small-sized hospitals, 1.5 per cent for 23 medium-sized and multi-site hospitals and targeted funding to assist with unique situations and historical funding challenges.

Ontario will invest $27 billion over the next 10 years in hospital infrastructure projects across Ontario, including adding 3,000 new hospital beds.

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