The Ontario government has announced a new investment in an effort to keep smaller emergency departments from closing their doors and reduce wait times at high-volume hospitals across the province.
The province will invest an additional $44 million into 165 emergency departments at Ontario hospitals this year.
“When someone experiences a medical emergency, it is vital that they get the urgent attention they need quickly,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health in a news release. “By offering more funding for hospitals who show the greatest success in reducing wait times in their emergency departments, we are providing more support for them to deliver faster emergency care to the communities they serve.”
A total of $29 million of the investment will go to 75 high-volume emergency departments to reduce wait times and increase capacity.
The remaining $15 million will support another 90 smaller hospitals that provide emergency care to fewer than 30,000 patients a year. The funding will help hospitals hire and retain the staff needed to keep their emergency departments open.
Each hospital will have the flexibility to decide how to spend the additional funding.