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Stevenson Memorial gets a little extra funding

BY Maija Hoggett April 18, 2008 21:04

Stevenson Memorial Hospital’s acting president hopes new funding announced last week helps it produce a balanced budget.

The Alliston hospital is receiving $67,700 under the small hospital funding, plus $99,800 in wait-time strategy funding.

Provincially, the announcement flows $295 million into Ontario hospitals for the current fiscal year and targets hospital’s ability to deliver short wait times and improved access to quality health care.

“This is very good news for us because we haven’t finalized our budget yet with the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN),” said Gary Ryan, SMH acting president and CEO.

Ryan hopes the new funding will offset increasing labour costs at Stevenson Memorial.

The provincial budget in March covered about a two per cent increase in funding at the hospital. Ryan said the bulk of the hospital budget comes from labour, mostly nursing salaries, and those costs are increasing about 3.25 per cent this year.

“The extra $67,700 is a way for the ministry to address some of that shortfall,” said Ryan.

The wait time strategy funding at Stevenson Memorial is for 125 additional procedures in the cataract program.

The Central LHIN, which Stevenson Memorial is a part of, is also receiving $6.9 million for growth funding. The local LHIN is responsible for dividing the growth money between the hospitals in its region, based on local circumstances.

“Our hope is given the growth in the Stevenson catchment area that we will get some of that funding as well,” said Ryan.

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