A new report says the province needs five times more hospital beds than are being planned by the government.
The report, from CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), cites data on hospital funding, bed capacity, staffing levels, admission times, and more.
Officials say it shows declining levels of service and warns the “worst is yet to come”, with underfunding behind the shortages.
“The data paints a dire picture. There is a massive gap between what Ontarians need and what this government plants to do,” said OCHU President Michael Hurley. “People are already paying the consequences for the Ontario PC policy of scarcity and it’s only getting worse; we’ll see longer wait times, more patients on stretches in hallways, and fewer staff to provide care.”
Provincially, they say the capacity shortfall will be nearly 14,000 hospital beds and more than 80-thousand staff by 2032.
The report notes that these shortages are driven by underfunding, and states that to maintain current service levels the province needs to increase annual hospital spending by $2 billion.
