June 8, 2007

HAMILTON – After four years in office, the McGuinty government is renewing public health care in Ontario with a 28.3 per cent increase in funding that enables hospitals to deliver shorter wait times, more access to doctors and nurses and provides more critical health services to Ontarians, Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman announced today.

"Our goal is to encourage innovation and renewal in Ontario hospitals so that over the long term, they continue to meet the health care needs of patients," Smitherman said. "Working collaboratively with our hospital partners, we have made significant progress in achieving this goal and we're proud that the vast majority of our hospitals are working more resourcefully, and delivering quality care in the public health care system."

Hospitals will receive $14.1 billion in operating funding this fiscal year, an increase of $495 million or 3.7 per cent over last year.

The government has been working closely with hospitals over the last three years to help them balance their books and become more financially secure. An important component of hospitals' ability to better plan for the coming year, was the introduction of predictable, multi-year funding. The McGuinty government's initiative to provide stable funding allows hospitals to manage their budgets and better plan for the upcoming year.

"Hospitals are one of the cornerstones of our health care system," Smitherman said. "We are now seeing a new spirit of leadership in Ontario's hospitals for the benefit of patients, and as a result we are better positioned to see our public health care system grow for all Ontarians."

"The government has implemented a number of initiatives that have helped improve hospital financial planning and create a more stable health system," said Hilary Short, President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association. "We look forward to working with Local Health Integration Networks to ensure that hospitals have the resources they need to meet patient care needs."

This is just one more example of how, working together, Ontarians have achieved results in quality hospital care for families. Other initiatives include :

• Reducing wait times for five key health care services (hip and knee joint replacement, cataract surgeries, cancer surgeries, cardiac procedures and MRI and CT exams) with an investment of more than $895 million over four years for approximately 1,270,000 additional procedures in these areas.
• Investing $5 billion in modernizing and expanding health care facilities by 2010 to meet the needs of the province's growing and aging population.
• Investing $143 million in an Emergency Department Action Plan, which contains system-wide solutions to ensure emergency rooms stay open and increase capacity in the health care system to meet the needs of Ontario patients.
• Investing in community-based primary health care with the creation of 49 new and satellite Community Health Centres (CHCs), and 150 Family Health Teams to reduce the pressure on hospital emergency rooms.

Today's initiative is part of the McGuinty government's plan for innovation in public health care, building a system that delivers on three priorities - keeping Ontarians healthy, reducing wait times and providing better access to doctors and nurses.

For further information :

Members of the general public :
416-327-4327, or 1-866-532-3161

BACKGROUNDERS

McGuinty Government Investing in Hospitals to Strenghthen Public Health Care

To view PDF format files, you need to have Adobe Acrobat® Reader installed on your computer.    You can download this free software from the Adobe Web site.

© Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2007  |  Privacy Policy  |  Disclaimers  |   Last Modified :