Ontario renews summer ER staffing funding for one more year

Health Minister Sylvia Jones has touted that the program helped avoid nearly 1,500 temporary ER closures last summer, but while it expired on March 31, the government did not announce until Thursday that it would be renewed for another summer.

Many northern and rural hospitals rely on doctors from urban areas filling shifts on what is known as a locum basis, and this program was created during the pandemic to pay those doctors a premium for that work. When asked why funding that expired March 31 wasn't renewed until June 1, a spokesperson for Jones said it required “extensive consultations with key health-care sector partners including the Ontario Medical Association and Ontario Health.”

After September, the program will be wound down, the government wrote in the memo, but there are other available programs to help those hospitals, including reimbursing medical students for expenses when completing clinical assignments in the north and a peer-to-peer program that provides rural and remote ER doctors virtual access to mentoring and support.

“Public hospitals, especially small rural ones, aren't in a position to fix systemic issues,” he said.

Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Most of Ontario will see two straight days of extreme heatMuch of Ontario will be experiencing a multi-day heat event starting on Thursday.
Source: CP24 - 🏆 30. / 67 Read more »

Most of Ontario will see two straight days of extreme heatMuch of Ontario will be experiencing a multi-day heat event starting on Thursday.
Source: CTVToronto - 🏆 9. / 84 Read more »

Northern Ontario's worst roads are not in the Sault: CAATake this news with a grain of salt: Annual list of 'Worst Roads' in northern Ontario does not include a single street in Sault Ste. Marie
Source: SooToday - 🏆 8. / 85 Read more »

City imposes fire ban as of midnight May 31High temperatures and dry conditions have contributed to extreme fire conditions across Northern Ontario
Source: sudburydotcom - 🏆 6. / 89 Read more »

Ontario abandons proposal to sever farmland lots in response to farmer oppositionOntario has backed off a housing proposal that farmers say would have had a “catastrophic” impact on farmland and livestock operations.
Source: CP24 - 🏆 30. / 67 Read more »

Nightly Pat Bay Highway lane closures begin Thursday for Keating workSingle-lane traffic will be in effect for north and southbound traffic between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., and starting Saturday, the southbound on-ramp from Keating Cross Road will be closed.
Source: timescolonist - 🏆 15. / 75 Read more »