Ontario spending $7.8M for 34 beds at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre

Ontario's health minister announced funding for 34 beds at theThunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), saying the government will spend up to $7.8 million"to continue to support Alternative Level of Care transitional beds and acute mental health beds" at TBRHSC.

Alternative Level of Care (ALC) is a term hospitals use to describe "patients who occupy a bed but do not require the intensity of services provided in that care setting," according to theThe Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

This funding is part of a $1.18 billion province-wideinvestment to aims to "continue supporting over 3,500 hospital beds across Ontario," said Sylvia Jones at a media event Thursday.

It was not specified whether the province's efforts to "continue supporting" beds meant funding additional physical beds, additional staff, or funding existing beds and/or staff.

TBRHSC has previously struggled to staff all of their transitional care beds. While the hospital has operated up to 64 staffed transitional care beds in the past,as of November 2021 they were only able to use half of them due to a nursing shortage.

Inadequate staffing in hospitalsaround Ontario is at the root of a growing number of complaints from patients,the province's health-system watchdog reported earlier this year.

Ontario's hospitals have struggled with staffing shortages for the past year. Emergency roomwait times spikedlast spring, then some smallerERs were closedat times last summer for lack of staff, then the spread of respiratory virusesswamped hospitals with patientslast fall.

Funding for mental health bedsneeded

Northwestern Ontario has been disproportionately impacted by mental health and addiction crises. Thunder Bay has previously called for more mental health bedsSt. Joseph's Care Group asked the provincial government to fund a new 40-bed mental health and addictions crisis centrein March 2021. This centre was not built.

Jones said that while provincial funding for mental and addictions health supports at the ER level is a priority, federal and municipal governments needed to also fund preventative measures.

"This is a societal problem that we are going to have to deal with multi-jurisdictionally and and multi-government-wise otherwise, frankly, those issues, those problems, those concerns end up in an emergency department rooms," Jones said.

MPPfor Thunder BayAtikokan Kevin Holland described the TBRHSC beds as "much needed".

"With this investment, we are further solidifying our status as a hub for cutting edge healthcare in northwestern Ontario," said Holland.

The minister also said the province plans to fund the development of acomprehensive cardiovascular surgery program at TBRHSC.