Funding helps hospitals battle flu season

Mary Clare Egberts, QHC CEO with Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith

Bay of Quinte MPP Todd Smith announced one-time funding of $2.8 million to help Quinte Health Care deal with “hallway health care” – as it moves into flu season.

“QHC continues to remain at or above capacity at all four hospitals on a regular basis – and are planning for the flu season ahead which generally means an increase of approximately 30 per cent,” said Smith, Friday morning at the announcement, at Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital. “One patient treated in a hallway is one patient too many. This move will reduce the strain on the health care system in advance of the upcoming flu season and work with front-line health care professionals and other experts to transform the province’s health care system.”

The funding supports approximately 23 beds.

Earlier this month, Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Health Christine Elliott announced $90 million to support 1,100 beds and spaces across the province to help alleviate strain on the health care system.

“We are extremely grateful for this gesture of support,” said Mary Clare Egberts, QHC’s president and CEO. “It sends a clear message to our care providers, to our patients and to our communities that this government recognizes the significant pressures facing hospitals across Ontario, including the four QHC hospitals. This funding investment will allow us the financial resources needed to care for a higher number of patients as we face the pending flu season.”

Ford and Elliott also announced Ontario is moving forward with building 6,000 new long-term care beds across Ontario. Included is 128 beds approved for the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte in Deseronto in the first wave of more than 15,000 new long-term beds the government has committed to over the next five years.

Smith noted the need for beds at the H.J. McFarland Home is also on the radar – which would help replace the beds lost when Picton Manor closed.