Health Sciences North to benefit from $219K injection

Health Sciences North will receive up to 4,368 dedicated nursing hours in the emergency department to care for patients who arrive by ambulance but who do not need immediate emergency care as part of a $219,191 provincial investment.

By providing care to patients who arrive by ambulance, these nurses will help reduce the time paramedics spend in hospital emergency rooms, thus allowing them to respond to other calls resulting in faster ambulance response times, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci said in a press release. The funding represents a 37-per-cent increase over last year.

“These committed nurses give patients the care they need while allowing paramedics to quickly return to serving other patients in our community,” he said.

Since 2008-09, the province has funded 915,113 nursing hours dedicated to providing care for ambulance patients, and more than 15,000 nursing positions have been created in Ontario since 2003.