The Ontario government announced this past week it was investing an additional $44 million this year to reduce wait times and provide people with faster and easier access to timely care close to home.
The money is being directed to 165 high volume and smaller emergency departments across the province.
In response to a request from Sudbury.com about whether any of the funding was provided to Health Sciences North, the hospital replied "We have no information or details to share at this time."
The $44-million announcement was made by Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones in Ottawa.
“When someone experiences a medical emergency, it is vital that they get the urgent attention they need quickly,” said Jones.
“By offering more funding for hospitals who show the greatest success in reducing wait times in their emergency departments, we are providing more support for them to deliver faster emergency care to the communities they serve.”
Hospitals have the flexibility to decide how to spend this funding on local solutions that will help people receive care faster and reduce their length of stay in an emergency department, said a ministry of health news release.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this annual funding helped emergency departments connect people to care sooner by decreasing the average time spent in emergency departments by 12.2 per cent, said the release.
The issue of Emergency Department wait times at HSN was addressed at the June 13 annual general meeting by former hospital CEO Dominic Giroux.
"With regards to wait times in the Emergency Department, they have risen dramatically in the past year, as has been the case across Ontario. While we achieved our target in only one month, our average wait times in 2022-2023 were at or below provincial averages," said Giroux.
He said the wait time for a patient to be seen by a physician in the Emergency Department for all patients was two hours, the same as the provincial number.
He said the length of stay in the ED for "low-urgency" patients was 3.1 hours, the same as the provincial number.
The length of stay for "high urgency" patients was 4.2 hours, better than the provincial average, said Giroux.
He added that the length of stay for a patient who is eventually admitted to a hospital bed was 19.2 hours which was still better than the provincial average of 20.7 hours. Giroux said he still found that number to be too high, unacceptable and not patient-centred.
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
