An increase in funding for Ontario's hospitals is good news for Windsor Essex, according to one hospital CEO.
Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj provided his response Thursday to the Liberal government's plan to increase funding for Ontario hospitals by 4.6% for 2018-2019.
Speaking with reporters, Musyj says while specific totals will not be worked out right away, Windsor Regional Hospital will certainly benefit from the increase, allowing it to continue providing the best care possible.
"It's not only going to allow us to pay for the services that we currently provide to those residents, but also enhance those services," says Musyj. "The details of those enhancements will come out shortly, but this is positive news for our region."
Musyj says the increased funding will come in two different strains, one based on performance and the other based on the current quality level of patient care.
"If you perform well from year to year to year, your funding will go up because they're saying you need more funding to provide the services that you give to the patients that are coming through your doors," says Musyj. "Then, in addition, what they just announced is 'we're going to increase the size of the pot of funding.'"
Premier Kathleen Wynne's office says the increased funding will help alleviate concerns over capacity as well as decrease wait times. In a release sent out Thursday, the province singled out North York General Hospital, which will receive an additional $10.8-million in funding to help decrease wait times for high-risk MRI patients as well as support its emergency room.
Musyj says he is expecting to at least get that amount of additional money for Windsor Regional, considering WRH is a larger hospital than North York. However, Musyj points out that the hospital will need $6-million more to account for inflation.
The Ontario budget will be revealed on Wednesday.