This funding will help patients to continue to get the care they need in-hospital, right when and where they need it.
“This funding increase will help PRHC by increasing the number of physicians available for patients when the hospital needs that extra support.” said Dave Smith. “This is just one more step the province is taking to ensure the right level of care is available when it is needed and further help reduce wait times for the people of the greater Peterborough area.”
This funding follows through on previous agreements between the Ontario Medical Association and Ontario Ministry of Health to increase dedicated funding for physicians on-call. This funding will support on-call coverage at nearly 100 acute-care hospitals in Ontario.
This funding will support after-hours care at PRHC and allow for more stable after-hours coverage. This investment recognizes the efforts of health care workers, especially those who provide on-call services in addition to their regular working hours whenever hospitals need it.
“On behalf of PRHC, I want to thank MPP Smith, Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health for today’s exciting announcement,” said Dr. Lynn Mikula, president and CEO of Peterborough Regional Health Centre. “This funding for on-call support will have benefits for both our physicians and our patients, and help to ensure that the people of our community and region have better access to the care they need, when they need it.”
This funding includes a $12.5 million investment from the 2021 Physician Services Agreement with the Ontario Medical Association which will also commits to a fundamental re-design of the Hospital On-Call Coverage program into a burden-based funding model. This ensures equitable distribution of funding across physicians providing on-call services.
