905 hospitals need several hundred million dollars to meet needs: report
Standard-Freeholder (Cornwall)
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Page: 2
Section: Ontario/Canada
Byline:
Dateline: TORONTO
Source: Canadian Press

TORONTO (CP) -- The Ontario government must commit several hundred million dollars to aid hospitals overburdened by explosive population growth in the regions surrounding Toronto, says a report to be released Tuesday.

"If GTA hospitals were to be funded on a fair-share basis with respect to the rest of Ontario, there's this gap of several hundred millions dollars that needs to be addressed," a source familiar with the report told The Canadian Press.

"We've got a region here that has really got a major gap issue."

The report from the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance was to be tabled Tuesday and focuses on the state of hospital care in the regions of Durham, Halton, Peel and York.

The area is part of the so-called 905 region surrounding Toronto.

The advocacy group counts 11 hospitals in the region among its members. The alliance argues those hospitals toil under the highest patient occupancy rates in Ontario, a situation that will only be exacerbated as 90,000 new residents are welcomed to the area annually.

"With 90,000 people moving into the GTA each year, and funding not effectively addressing that on a per capita basis, the ability to deliver care close to home is becoming compromised," said the source.

The study found that on any given day, the percentage of acute care beds occupied in region hospitals is 94 per cent -- the highest rate in the province.