Ontario Providing More Funding for Hospital Care in Sarnia-Lambton
New investments will ensure local families have access to high-quality health care
NEWS
April 29, 2022
Sarnia-Lambton — Today, Bob Bailey, MPP for Sarnia-Lambton, announced that Bluewater Health will receive an additional $4.6 million in operating funding for the 2022/2023 fiscal year.
This is part of the Ontario government’s $827 million additional investment to hospitals across the province, representing a four percent increase from last year. This will ensure all publicly funded hospitals receive a minimum two percent increase to their operating budgets to help them better meet patient needs, while building a stronger, more resilient health care system.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Bluewater Health has gone above and beyond to provide exceptional care to patients and families in Sarnia-Lambton,” said MPP Bailey. “This new investment is just one way Ontario is supporting high-quality and timely access to health care to ensure we have the capacity to stay open.”
Over the last four years, the Ontario government has made significant investments in Ontario’s hospitals as part of its plan to build a stronger, more resilient health care system that is better able to respond to crisis. This includes overall sector increases four years in a row, representing a total provincial investment of $2.5 billion since 2019.
“Ontario’s hospitals have been unwavering in their commitment to protect the health and wellbeing of Ontarians, and our government is committed to ensuring they have the resources needed to recover from the pandemic and meet the ongoing needs of the communities they serve,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
“By increasing investments in hospitals provincewide, our government is helping to ensure that patients have access to the high-quality care they need, when and where they need it.”
In addition, as part of its plan to stay open, the government is implementing a capital plan expansion with more than 50 major projects that will add 3,000 new beds over 10 years and support the continuation of over 3,100 acute and post-acute beds in hospitals, alternate health care facilities, and hundreds of new adult, paediatric and neonatal critical care beds. Since the outset of the pandemic, the government has added 777 more intensive-care unit hospital beds with the capacity to now handle 2,448 critical care patients.
QUICK FACTS
- To support growing demands on the health care system, Ontario’s investments over the next 10 years will lead to $40 billion in health infrastructure across the province. These investments will increase capacity in hospitals, build new health care facilities, and renew existing hospitals and community health centres.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Media Contacts:
Bob Bailey, MPP
bob.bailey@pc.ola.org
519-337-0051