Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) is getting an additional $18.1 million in funding from the Ontario government to support its operating budget and more than 40 surge beds in the hospital.
The breakdown of the money is $6.5 million or a 2.6 per cent increase for the general operating budget for the next fiscal year and $11,669,000 to support 43 hospital beds, that were previously unfunded.
“This funding is another landmark investment in our hospital to end hallway health care and deliver better services for our region,” Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith said.
“This funding marks a significant investment at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. Today, we have secured funding to support 88 health-care beds at Peterborough Regional Health Centre and community partners.”
In a Zoom press conference to announce the funding on Tuesday, hospital executive vice-president and chief of staff Dr. Lynn Mikula said the money was critical given the ongoing pandemic.
“As we continue to operate more than 40 additional surge beds across the hospital to support substantial increases in patient volumes in recent years, and as we continue to face ongoing staffing shortages due to COVID-19 and other factors affecting the health-care system across Ontario, this funding will be absolutely critical to ensuring that we can continue to meet the care needs of the patients we serve,” Mikula said.
“It provides us with more stable funding to operate the surge beds that are absolutely needed by our community and were needed before COVID. COVID made that need more acute, it didn’t create the need. Looking forward, this funding and plans for future growth are critical.”
Meanwhile, Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott made a similar funding announcement at Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Lindsay on Tuesday.
RMH will get $2,628,000 to add 12 patient beds and an additional $1.9 million in operating funding, representing a 2.4 per cent increase over last year.
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