For Immediate Release:
Thursday, May 17, 2001

Ontario's 2001 Budget Spells Trouble for GTA/905 Hospitals

"Last week's budget announcement is a great disappointment and creates significant healthcare challenges for GTA/905 hospitals in the regions of Durham, Halton, Peel and York," says GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance Chair, Gale Mossman.

"Our eleven hospitals require a minimum of $200 million in additional operating funds to maintain reliable, high quality services for a population that continues to grow twice as fast as the rest of the province. Each week over one thousand people move into the GTA/905 area straining health care resources even further," says Mossman.

As Executive Director Joe Pilon explains, "the 2001/02 budget provides $100 million less in operating funds for hospitals. For GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance hospitals this creates significant pressures in the delivery of healthcare services in the area."

"Our hospitals are already bursting at the seams," he says. "And we anticipate 50,000 new emergency visits and 30,000 more admissions this coming year. We need additional funding to care for these patients. We can't turn people away."

"You can only stretch a dollar so far," suggests Pilon. "GTA/905 hospitals are very efficient, well run organizations that are used to doing 'more with less' to deal with historical funding gaps that have funded the GTA/905 with fewer dollars per person than other regions. However, we are fast approaching the point where our ability to deliver healthcare services to a population exceeding 2.5 million cannot be sustained without adequate funding."

Current housing trends and demographics show that the population will continue to climb rapidly in the area. More than 40% of Ontario's additional health care needs will be located in the GTA/905 over the next few years. According to Pilon, "We need long-term funding solutions that address a growing and aging population and the pressures associated with capital funding needs for construction and equipment, in order to preserve healthcare services in the GTA/905 area."

"The government's budget is inadequate to deal with the immensity of healthcare pressures facing GTA/905 hospitals and signals the need to work together to ensure healthcare services are available to all residents, when and where they need them," he says.

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The GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance is a group of eleven hospital corporations from the regions of Durham, Halton, Peel, York and surrounding areas. Alliance hospitals include: Halton Healthcare Services, Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, Lakeridge Health Corporation, Markham Stouffville Hospital, Rouge Valley Health System, Southlake Regional Health Centre, The Credit Valley Hospital, Trillium Health Centre, Whitby Mental Health Centre, William Osler Health Centre, and York Central Hospital.