While the Ontario health ministry rejects the OCHU\/CUPE report linking underfunding to soaring ER waits in Sudbury, a HSN spokesperson says demand remains high as hospital runs over capacity, but they are set for a balanced financial position<\/p>\n
Calling their report warning of dire hospital underfunding<\/a> \u201cmisguided,”\u00a0the Ministry of Health pushed back on a report by OCHU\/CUPE and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that showed a more-than-doubling of emergency department wait times since 2020.<\/p>\n While the province denied Sudbury.com\u2019s request for an interview and did not specifically state why they felt the report is inaccurate, a ministry spokesperson provided a statement detailing \u201cinvestments\u201d in health care since the Conservative government came to power in 2018.<\/p>\n Health Sciences North also offered a response to the report, updating their financials and the number of hours cited as average before patient admission, which has decreased significantly since the report was written.<\/p>\n However, HSN spokesperson Jason Turnbull\u00a0stated in an email that \u201cdemand at HSN remains extremely high.\u201d<\/p>\n The day comment was requested, May 20, Turnbull said the hospital was operating at 108 per cent capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cOur hospital routinely operates above 100-per-cent capacity with 120 to 130 patients receiving care in hallways, tub rooms, the Emergency Department, or in temporary placements such as retirement homes each day.\u201d<\/p>\n Report: Failure by design, Ontario\u2019s deepening hospital funding crisis<\/p>\n According to the repor<\/a>t by Ontario Council of Hospital Unions\/Canadian Union of Public Employees (OCHU\/CUPE)<\/a> and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, provincial underfunding has triggered a severe hospital crisis in Ontario, with Northern Ontario disproportionately affected.<\/p>\n At Sudbury\u2019s Health Sciences North, the report states the average emergency room wait times have surged by 169 per cent over five years to seven hours \u2014 well above the provincial average of 4.5 hours \u2014 while patient admission delays have jumped to 51 hours.<\/p>\n Report author Andrew Longhurst and the OCHU\/CUPE secretary-treasurer, Sharon Richer attributed these worsening delays to systemic provincial underfunding that fails to match inflationary cost pressures, compounded by a critical shortage of regional family doctors forcing residents to seek primary care in ERs. Consequently, said Longhurst, more than half of Ontario\u2019s hospitals are running deficits, leading to warnings of compromised care and criticism over provincial dollars being funneled into private clinics rather than staffing existing, underutilized public hospital operating rooms.<\/p>\n And while the ministry denied Sudbury.com an interview and did not specifically address any of the statistics within the report, Lily Barnes, press secretary and senior communications advisor to Health Minister Sylvia Jones spoke of investment in the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cOur 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,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Staffing and beds<\/p>\n But Longhurst said that while the province capped hospital funding increases at four per cent, the Ontario Hospital Association reports that actual costs are rising at six per cent annually: a two per cent deficit that will compound yearly.<\/p>\n Longhurst said that despite finance minister Peter Bethlenfalvy claims in January that health care spending is \u201cunsustainable,\u201d data he collected from 2014 to 2023 that shows spending as a share of GDP grew by only 0.2 percent over the decade, a rate well within historical norms and entirely sustainable, he said.<\/p>\n The report contains data up to the 2024\/25 fiscal year, but Turnbull offered the wait time averages for admission for the 2025\/26 fiscal year, stating nine out of 10 patients admitted through HSN\u2019s Emergency Department received an in-patient bed within 33 hours, compared with the provincial wait time of 28 hours.<\/p>\n He indicated that several factors are contributing to longer wait times for inpatient beds at HSN, \u201cincluding high hospital occupancy rates and increasingly complex patient care needs.\u201d<\/p>\n In the ministry statement, spokesperson Barnes wrote that the province has increased funding at HSN by 44 per cent since 2018, \u201cwhile investing $5 million to support the planning for future expansion, over $10 million to build a new 52-bed Acute and Reactivation Care Centre, which is already helping patients transition home and free up acute care beds.\u201d<\/p>\n Opened in November, 2023, <\/a>the full cost of the care centre was $11.9 million with $9.6 million provided by the Ontario government and $2.3 million coming from the HSN’s Volunteer Association through the successful HSN 50\/50 Cash Lottery, which features monthly draws.<\/p>\n Barnes also spoke to \u201cmore than $2 million to support Sudbury-area Interprofessional Primary Care Teams<\/a> to connect over 5,500 people to primary care, helping reduce pressure on emergency departments and improve patient flow.\u201d<\/p>\n These funds went to the City of Lakes Family Health Team and Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre.<\/p>\n Critical procedures<\/p>\n In the ministry statement, Barnes wrote: \u201cwe have one of the largest health care workforces in Canada, adding over 100,000 new nurses and nearly 20,000 new physicians since 2018, some of the shortest wait times for critical procedures, reducing the annual total volume of ED (emergency department) visits by nearly 200,000, with over 83 per cent of people receiving surgery within the clinically recommended times, and the highest primary care attachment rate in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n However, on Feb. 10, another report from OCHU\/CUPE<\/a> warned of low staffing levels, with representatives telling media the lack of staff would add to wait times for critical procedures, like surgery.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the most recent data reported by the provincial government (March 2024) there were nearly 73,000 patients in Ontario who waited longer than clinically recommended for their surgeries, up from 36,360 in 2019,\u201d said Doug Allen, a senior researcher with CUPE. That increase comes after a provincial-government promise<\/a> to eliminate \u201challway medicine\u201d in 2018, said Allan.<\/p>\n