Provincial underfunding is undermining timely access to hospital services, says author of new report
Barrie, ON – Emergency department wait-times at Simcoe County Hospitals have increased significantly over the past five years, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
In Failure, By Design: Ontario’s deepening hospital funding crisis, CCPA Senior Researcher Andrew Longhurst found that hospitals across Ontario are struggling as rising government costs of six percent and government underfunding are creating a toxic situation that undermines the goal of offering timely access to care for patients.
“Over the last three years, our research shows that predictable increases in Ontario hospital costs are being met with consistent underfunding from the provincial government,” said Longhurst. “When hospital funding increases fall below the required six percent, the health care needs of the population go unmet. It’s a preventable crisis, and it is only deepening.”
At a press conference in Barrie, Longhurst said that emergency department wait-times are the canary in the coal-mine for health system performance.
He revealed significant increase in ER wait-times (2020-21 to 2024-25) for Simcoe County hospitals for 90 per cent of patients based on data obtained from the Canadian Institute of Health Information.
| Hospital | ER wait-times for hospital admission (90th percentile) | ER wait-times for physician assessment (90th percentile) |
| Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre | 2024-25: 33.5 hours
2020-21: 24.9 hours
35 per cent increase |
2024-25: 4.3 hours
2020-21: 3.4 hours
26 per cent increase
|
| Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital in surplus last three years | 2024-25: 30.6 hours
2020-21: 24.2 hours
26 per cent increase |
2024-25: 4.2 hours
2020-21: 2.5 hours
68 per cent increase |
| Georgian Bay General Hospital | 2024-25: 39.7 hours
2020-21: 27.7 hours 43 per cent increase |
2024-25: 3.9 hours
2020-21: 1.7 hours 129 per cent increase |
Making the case that health care spending is insufficient, Longhurst countered misleading claims by the Ontario government about health care, such as the finance minister’s recent statement about spending being “unsustainable.”
Total Ontario health care spending merely rose to 7.6 per cent of GDP in 2023 from 7.4 per cent of GDP in 2014, said Longhurst. Even still, Ontario ranked last in per-capita hospital and total health care spending in Canada in 2023.
The Ontario government has also suggested that the care economy is not the ‘real’ economy, yet in 2024, one in five jobs in Ontario—1.4 million jobs—were in the care economy.
“The Ontario government’s funding austerity, and the attitudes that deride health care workers, are harmful to the workers as well as to the patients and communities who depend on their skills and commitment,” said Longhurst. “And this all contributes to deteriorating working conditions, rising vacancies among hospital staff, and now, job cuts.
“We strongly recommend that the provincial government implement an aggressive plan to address the hospital funding and capacity crisis—rather than laying off staff. Hospitals need certainty in funding levels, which should increase by six per cent annually. Without this, the consequences are disastrous for patients.”
Provincially, hospital admission wait-times increased 52 per cent in five years, while wait-times for emergency department assessment rose 67 per cent.
Sharon Richer, secretary-treasurer of Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, the hospital division of CUPE, pointed out that the sharp increase in province-wide wait-times occurred before the latest round of hospital job cuts beginning at the end of last year.
“By any metric, our hospitals require a substantial increase in staffing and capacity to improve wait-times, reduce hallway medicine, and enhance the quality of patient care,” she said. “However, the government’s stubborn refusal to meet rising hospital costs is taking us backwards whereby jobs are being eliminated every day even as staffing shortages suffocate the system. The political choice to starve our public hospitals is a failure by design.”
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For more information, contact:
Zee Noorsumar, CUPE Communications
[email protected]
647-995-9859
