Timiskaming Shores - After four years in office, the McGuinty government has increased funding for Ontario’s hospitals by $3.1 billion. Residents of Timskaming-Cochrane will benefit from improved hospital care thanks to an increase of $3,297,288in funding this fiscal year for seven local hospitals, David Ramsay, MPP announced today on behalf of Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman.
“We’re making sure Ontarians continue to receive the best health care possible by supporting the services they receive in our hospitals,” Ramsay said. “With this new funding, our government is ensuring that the hospitals in Timiskaming-Cochrane have the resources they need to provide critical programs and services for the benefit of patients in Timiskaming-Cochrane.
- Kirkland and District Hospital will receive $952,700 in additional funding, increasing the total for operations in 2007-08 to $16,806,000.
- Bingham Memorial Hospital in Matheson will receive $387,100 in additional funding, increasing the total for operations in 2007-08 to $5,206,252.
- Anson General Hospital in Iroquois Falls will receive $192,308 in additional funding, increasing the total for operations in 2007-08 to $7,170,416.
- The Lady Minto Hospital in Cochrane will receive $231,500 in additional funding, increasing the total for operations in 2007-08 to $8,652,600.
- Englehart and District Hospital will receive $135,900 in additional funding, increasing the total for operations in 2007-08 to $4,932,400.
- The Temiskaming Hospital will receive $1,049,700 in additional funding, increasing the total for operations in 2007-08 to $16,127,340.
- The West Nipissing General Hospital will receive $348,080 in additional funding, increasing the total for operations in 2007-08 to $12,895,912.
“Our goal is to make Ontario hospitals stronger and sustainable over the long term so that they continue to meet the health care needs of Ontarians in the future,” Smitherman said. “Working collaboratively with our hospital partners, we have made significant progress in achieving this goal and we are proud that the vast majority of our hospitals are being more innovative and delivering high quality public health care.
Ontario hospitals will receive $14.1 billion in operating funding this fiscal year, an increase of over $495 million –or 3.7 per cent – from the previous year.
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, building a system that delivers on three priorities - keeping Ontarians healthy, reducing wait times and providing better access to doctors and nurses.