Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, today announced an additional investment of $68 million to support small- and medium-sized hospitals across Ontario with their unique situations and funding challenges. 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. The release goes on to say 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 hospitals and targeted funding to assist with unique situations and historical funding challenges.
Elliott said,“Ontario has a comprehensive plan to end hallway health care. 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.”
The Current asked Gregory McLeod, Chief Operating Officer of St. Francis Memorial Hospital (pictured above), what this announcement means to the hospital in Barry’s Bay. McLeod said, “St. Francis is one of the small hospitals so that will mean one percent for our hospital. That amounts to somewhere in the neighbourhood of between $80,000 and $100,000 increase. We are grateful for the one percent because we recognize that there is a provincial deficit, but our cost inflation is greater than one percent.”
McLeod explained, “One has to be mindful of the rate of inflation on a whole host of factors, whether they be labour which is the largest of our costs or drugs and supplies. And then there are things like electricity, maintenance of the building, and so forth. One percent is not an increase in our funding. It means that we have to be even more diligent in terms of how we manage our budget.”
Jensen,D. MOH Communications Branch (2019,Oct.17) Ontario providing more support for hospitals [media release]