Northumberland Hills Hospital to Receive $3.79 Million in Additional Funding from the Ford Government
Ontario is taking further action to end hallway healthcare by making increased investments in the Province’s hospitals.
Today, David Piccini, MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South, announced that Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH) will receive $3.79 million in additional funding. This funding sends a clear message that the Ministry has identified long-standing funding shortages in medium-sized hospitals and that they are committed to fixing these inequities.
“Our government is continuing to support our local hospitals by ensuring they have the resources they need to meet the growing needs of our community,” said MPP David Piccini. “I look forward to continuing to work with the professional, hard-working team at Northumberland Hills Hospital as they deliver high-quality, patient-centered care to the residents of Northumberland.”
“This announcement is a turning point in the evolution of Northumberland Hills Hospital,” said Linda Davis, President and CEO. “We know all too well what our priority needs are. We have—until now— been unable to fully invest in them. At the top of our to-do list is the redistribution of medical-surgical inpatient beds across both 2B and 2A units. In 2016 NHH made the difficult decision to consolidate medical/surgical inpatient care onto the 2B side in order to gain needed efficiencies. Shortly thereafter patient volumes surged and what was envisioned as a manageable 36-bed 2B unit swelled dramatically to a 52-bed unit. This has not been ideal for patients, their families or NHH staff, but with our previous funding, we were unable to re-open 2A. Today’s announcement will allow us to do this, and return our 2B and 2A medical/surgical units to appropriate sizes better able to care for the high volumes of patients that we are now seeing while still—and this is key—maintaining a balanced budget. It will also permit us to plan for much needed improvements in our ED, mental health and ambulatory care programs, all of which will contribute to easing hallway healthcare for our community.”
“The health system funding reforms of the past decade disadvantaged medium-sized community hospitals like our own, at precisely the same time that patient needs were on the rise. It was, in many respects, the perfect storm,” said Pam Went, NHH Board Chair. “Today’s announcement acknowledges a point our Board had made for many years: that NHH is an efficient hospital, and it simply cannot meet today’s patient needs or the needs of tomorrow without net new investment. Most important, I understand that these new dollars will be added to our base funding—meaning that the days of struggling with one-time funding allotments that have impeded our Board’s ability to plan sustainably for the future are at long last behind us. On behalf of the Board, I thank the Government for this new stability.”
“This investment in Northumberland Hills Hospital will have a significant impact on alleviating hallway medicine in our community,” said Bob Sanderson, Warden, Northumberland County. “By rectifying an historical inequity in hospital funding formulas, the Province is ensuring that the dedicated staff, physicians and volunteers of NHH have the support they need to continue delivering excellent care to local residents. I want to thank MPP Piccini for his continued advocacy on behalf of the community, and also thank the Province for its partnership in ensuring quality healthcare is available in Northumberland.”
“Ontario has a comprehensive plan to end hallway health care,” said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Working with our hospital partners, we are fixing long-standing issues with how hospitals are funded that disadvantaged small- and medium-sized hospitals. We have listened to patients, frontline staff and key stakeholders to determine how we can fix historical inequities to provide financial stability and relief to hospitals, regardless of their size.”
Across Ontario, the provincial government is investing an additional $68 million to support small- and medium-sized hospitals who face funding challenges. This funding includes a province-wide increase in funding of one per cent for 66 small-sized hospitals, 1.5 per cent for 23 medium-sized and multi-site hospitals and targeted funding to assist with unique situations and historical funding challenges. This new investment is on top of the $384 million more that Ontario’s hospitals received this year as part of the province’s 2019 budget.
This investment will:
- Help ensure that families in Northumberland continue to have access to high-quality care;
- Help put an end to hallway health care;
- Address sector challenges and previous funding model inequities;
- Promote the sustainability of hospital operations; and
- Protect existing core services in communities across the Province.