AUGUST 2005
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AUGUST 2005 |
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GTA/905 hospital underfunding is front-page news GTA/905 regions growing faster than expected New provincial hospital plan will not address underfunding for GTA/905 residents’ hospital care No relief for GTA/905 residents in provincial budget or hospital funding announcements
Report shows GTA/905 residents short-changed $544 million annually by Ontario hospital funding formulas Every man, woman and child living in the GTA/905 regions receives $212 less in per capita provincial hospital funding than people living in other regions of the province, according to the first ever comprehensive report on the state of hospital care in the regions of Durham, Halton, Peel and York. The State of the Hospital Care in the GTA/905, , released May 3, 2005 by the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance showed the 10 hospitals in the GTA/905 are operating at capacity and area residents are being forced to seek hospital care away from home when they could be accessing care in their own communities if the government provided GTA/905 residents with a fair share of health care funding. Under pressure “The four regions in the GTA/905 are among the fastest growing in Ontario. Provincial hospital funding formulas do not take this into account,” said Tariq Asmi, executive director of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance.. “While our hospitals have been able to cope, they are under increasing pressure. This report shows they cannot continue to do more with less,” Asmi said. Funding for care closer to home The report shows that underfunding is the main reason that 905 area hospitals are not able to provide residents of the GTA/905 with care close to home. In addition to showing that GTA/905 residents are underfunded for hospital care, the report showed that GTA/905 residents wait longer than the provincial average for certain services and have rates of access to hospital care lower than the provincial average. As a result of the report’s findings, the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance is renewing its call to the provincial government to provide growth funding and a fairer share of health care funding to the region’s three million residents. Targeted growth funding for hospital care in Durham, Halton, Peel and York means not only better care close to home but lower costs in GTA/905 hospitals contributes to a more sustainable health care system for Ontario. To see or download a copy of the report please go to: www.gta905health.com/whatsnew/gta905-hospitalreport.pdf
GTA/905 hospital underfunding is front-page news The 2005 State of Hospital Care in the GTA/905 report showing that GTA/905 hospitals are being underfunded by $544 million a year generated headlines across the region, including Toronto’s major dailies, and coverage of the issue on local radio and television stations. The story was front-page news in the National Post. “The issue is clearly something that struck a nerve with the public,” Tariq Asmi, executive director of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance, said.
GTA/905 regions growing faster than expected The four regions of the GTA/905 are growing at more than twice Ontario’s annual growth rate, according to the most recent census data. The 2001 Census showed that 3.05 million people lived in the four 905 regions of Durham, Halton, Peel and York. That is 160,000 more people than predicted in the 1996 census and a rate of growth that is twice as fast as Ontario’s annual growth rate. As a result of continuing rapid growth, the per capita shortfall in hospital funding for the GTA/905 is growing.
New provincial hospital plan will not address underfunding for GTA/905 residents’ hospital care Any way you cut it – by region or “Local Integrated Health Network” – GTA/905 residents will receive less funding for hospital services than other Ontarians. The new Local Health Integrated Networks (LHINs) being established by the province to plan, integrate, coordinate and fund health care services will not correct hospital underfunding in the GTA/905. Under LHIN boundaries, which are different than boundaries of Halton, Durham, York and Peel regions, residents in the GTA/905 will continue to be short- changed according to an analysis done by the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance. The analysis shows that under LHIN boundaries, the annual funding gap GTA/905 residents would have been $796 million in 2002/03 growing to a projected $957 million in 2005/06. “Any way you cut it, GTA/905 residents are still receiving less than their fair share of provincial hospital funding,” Tariq Asmi, executive director of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance, said. For more information on the LHIN analysis, go to www.gta905health.com/growthfacts
No relief for GTA/905 residents in provincial budget or hospital funding announcements The funding needs of hospitals in rapidly growing areas of the province including the GTA/905 were ignored in the 2005 provincial budget and subsequent announcements of multi-year funding for hospitals in June. “We acknowledge the government’s commitment to multi-year funding for Ontario hospitals, the desire for system stability, the focus on small and rural hospitals and the support for large teaching hospitals”, said Tariq Asmi, Executive Director of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance. “While the government has taken steps to support these types of hospitals, it has chosen not to respond to the needs of GTA/905 residents” GTA/905 hospitals received virtually the same percentage increases as hospitals in the rest of the province. GTA/905 hospitals received only 15 per cent of total new provincial hospital funding even though GTA/905 hospitals serve more than 25 per cent of Ontario’s population and provide care in communities that account for 50 per cent of the province’s annual population growth. “GTA/905 hospitals received almost the same operating budget increase as other hospitals,” said Kirk Corkery, Chair of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance. “This is ‘across the board’ funding which takes us back 10 years to when the big got bigger and the small remained small regardless of the growing need for local hospital care,” he added.
Provincial Government’s Increased Awareness of Growth May Translate into Better Access to Health Care for GTA/905 Residents It’s all about supporting population growth GTA/905 residents not getting a fair share of provincial hospital funding and not having adequate hospital facilities to access hospital care close to home is due to one major factor – a lack of a provincial health care strategy that targets communities experiencing rapid and sustained population growth. Each year the GTA/905 regions represent half the population growth in Ontario but for the last several years hospital funding has not kept pace with the need for increased health services in Ontario’s fastest growing regions. “The provincial government has a wonderful opportunity to begin to improve local access to hospital care for GTA/905 residents by acting on their statements and plans for growth in Ontario”, said Kirk Corkery, Chair of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance. “ The Minister of Health and Long-Term Care has stated he will begin to address the growing health service needs for GTA/905 residents by making a hospital funding adjustment in November for high growth hospitals. The Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal has stated that growth is a key criterion for approving hospital infrastructure projects. Both are potentially good news for GTA/905 residents and we look forward to being able to celebrate significant movement in these two areas.
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