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Like most hospitals in Ontario, budget deficits and longer emergency room wait times have plagued Bluewater Health in recent years.
Published May 15, 2026 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Bluewater Health in Sarnia. (File photo/The Observer)Article content
Like most Ontario hospitals, Bluewater Health has been plagued by budget deficits and longer emergency room waits in recent years, says the author of a recent report on Ontario hospital funding.
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There have been deficits at Bluewater Health since fiscal year 2022-23, and a slide in average waits for assessment, then for admission, at the emergency department, said Andrew Longhurst, with the Canadian Centre for Police Alternatives.
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All are influenced by provincial underfunding, he said.
“We’re seeing a four per cent annual increase in the provincial government hospital funding, but we know that costs are increasing at six per cent per year,” he said, citing Ontario Hospital Association data. “So there’s a gap.”
Longer waits can mean poorer health outcomes for those stuck in the queue, Longhurst said, noting Ontario spends the least per capita on hospitals and health care of all provinces.
Bluewater Health, also affected by extra demands amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and a cyberattack more than two years ago, recently announced its wait times have been improving – thanks to refocusing on a No One Waits initiative aimed at patient flow – and it’s much faster than peer hospitals.
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“While it’s certainly very positive to hear they’ve been able to bring their wait times down in the most recent year . . . it doesn’t fundamentally change the broader context,” Longhurst said.
The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario estimates there’s a $3-billion shortfall just to maintain 2024-25 service levels across the province, his report says.
The Erie-St. Clair region, which also includes Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent, is among the most seriously impacted by hospital deficits in Ontario, his research said.
It’s likely tied to meeting the health-care needs of a growing and aging population with increasingly complex health conditions, he said.
Poverty, inequality and homelessness are factors in people’s health, he said.
“In Southwestern Ontario, those issues are significant, as they are in other parts of the province,” he said. “But I think what we’re seeing is a lot of hospitals grappling with those issues.
“To put it simply, poverty and inequality makes people sick.”
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Housing and living wages need to be provincial priorities, along with hospital sector funding, he said.
Provincial funding for Bluewater Health has increased by 40 per cent since 2018, said Ema Popovic, a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones.
“The claims made in the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ report are misguided,” she said in a statement.
“Ontario has one of the largest publicly funded health-care systems in the world, and our government is investing over $101 billion this year alone, including a four per cent increase in the hospital sector for the fourth consecutive year, to connect people to the care they need when they need it.”
Ontario’s health-care workforce is one of Canada’s largest, the provincial system has some of the shortest wait times for critical procedures, the highest primary care attachment rate in the country, and the vast majority needing surgery get it within clinically recommended times, she said, noting 100,000 nurses and 20,000 physicians have been added since 2018.
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Ongoing work includes more than 50 hospital redevelopment projects, adding new MRI and CT machines, upskilling nurses to work in emergency departments, and allowing pharmacists to treat common ailments, while planning to have a primary care provider for every person by 2029, she said.
Bluewater Health ended 2024-25 with a $7.5-million operating deficit, and had plans to get to $5.8 million by March, 2026 via a Shift plan, underway in consultation with the province.
Further details have not been released.
Hospitals are required by law to have balanced budgets, but 55 per cent in Ontario ran deficits in 2024-25, Longhurst’s report says.
Bluewater Health recently reported the time it takes for 90 per cent of emergency room patients to be admitted out of the emergency care and into hospital was about 14.9 hours, compared to 33.4 hours at other similarly sized hospitals in Ontario.
Bluewater Health operating deficit2024-25: $7.5 million2023-24: $6.6 million2022-23: $5.9 million
Source: Andrew Longhurst
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