Ontario hospitals are facing growing financial pressure, and Peterborough’s health-care institutions are feeling the impact, according to a new report examining the province’s hospital funding crisis.
“Failure by Design,” a report written by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives senior researcher Andrew Longhurst, outlines the challenges hospitals across Ontario are experiencing, including staffing shortages, long wait times and strained patient care.
Longhurst said the effects are already being felt in communities like Peterborough.
In Longhurst’s report, he recommended a minimum of 3.2 billion in additional funding to the hospital system in Ontario.
This is followed by Longhurst saying that this is within the context of the lowest per capita rate possible.
President of Ontario’s Council of Hospital Unions Michael Hurley says that this has increased the names on waiting lists exponentially.
Without increased funding, Hurley warned hospitals could face further job losses, worsening wait times and inadequate care for patients.
Both Longhurst and Hurley say that if the Ontario medical system does not get the minimum funding of 3.2 billion then it will continue to be in an unsustainable state.
(Written by: Branden Rushton)
