Ontario Budget A Disappointing Result for Hospitals
Ontario Hospital Association
200 Front Street West, Suite 2800
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3L1
Tel: (416) 205-1345 Fax: (416) 205-1360
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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Toronto - The 2005-06 Ontario Budget means that hospitals and patients could face yet another difficult year, said Hilary Short, President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA).
The 2005 Ontario Budget provides hospitals with a $504 million or 4.7% increase in funding over 2004-05. However, after one-time funds are included, the net incremental funding increase for hospitals is $100 million, or less than 1 percent.
"We are very disappointed that the funding increase announced today does not cover the projected costs of providing hospital care to Ontarians in the coming year," said Ms. Short. "In fact, many hospitals could receive an even smaller funding increase than they received last year."
"Ontario will remain near the bottom of the Canadian pack in terms of its per capita spending on hospitals."
In addition, the government did not indicate that they would revisit the March 31, 2006 deadline for hospitals to balance their budgets.
"This means that many hospitals could - within weeks - be required to plan reductions to core patient services and for the elimination of up to 4000 staff positions,"continued Ms. Short. "We will continue to work with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to minimize, as much as possible, the effects on patients and hospital staff."
The Budget also features a number of positive measures, including a move to a service-based funding model, dedicated funding to reduce wait times for certain surgical and diagnostic procedures, and the commitment to an accelerated capital construction and improvement schedule.
"We understand that the Government of Ontario is in a difficult fiscal position and seeks to lower the growth of health care spending. However, hospitals remain the first and only point of contact with the health care system for many Ontarians. Hospitals should not be forced to cut needed patient services until alternative services are available in the community."
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For further information:
Chris McPherson
OHA Public Affairs
416-205-1305