The Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives has released a report looking at underfunding in Ontario hospitals.
Many hospitals have posted deficits and that’s affecting staffing levels.
Senior researcher Andrew Longhurst says at Lake of the Woods District Hospital, that has also resulted in long wait times in the ER.
“For 90 percent of patients in 2020/2021 those patients waited 3 hours,” Longhurst reported during a press conference on Thursday.
“By 2024/25, that increased to 5.1 hours, which represents a 70 percent increase.”
Longhurst says for anyone that has to go to the emergency room, the wait time for a bed at the hospital has also increased.
“That increased for 90 percent of patients from 14.8 hours to 24 hours….an increase of 62 percent. For 90 percent of patients, the maximum wait there is significant.”
Longhurst adds that emergency department wait-times are the canary in the coal-mine for health system performance.
The report is called Failure, By Design: Ontario’s deepening hospital funding crisis.
