Hello, Boozhoo, Bonjour.
Let me begin this month’s blog by briefly addressing the 2024 Ontario Budget, tabled in the Legislature on March 26th as it could have positive implications on us here.
What we know is the Finance Minister announced Ontario is going to spend billions on back pay related to increases associated with the Bill 124 case. The total extra compensation owed so far is reportedly about $6 billion. Here are some other highlights from the budget:
- 4% increase in base funding, part of $965 million in additional support.
- $2 billion to expand home and community care over the next three years.
- $446 million over three years on its primary care expansion strategy.
- Create 700 new educational spots for medical radiation and imaging technologists, medical laboratory technologists and technicians.
- $36 billion in hospital capital grants over 10 years.
Again, this is all ‘hot off the press’. We anticipate more detail, context and analysis from the Ontario Hospital Association over the coming days. So, stay tuned. We see this as a positive budget, but I am also acutely aware there is much more needed. We will continue to advocate aggressively with the province.
On that note, we had a special guest last week when we welcomed Dr. Karima Velji, Chief of Nursing and Professional Practice and Assistant Deputy Minister for the Ontario Government. Throughout the visit, we had opportunity to highlight our great staff and the dedication of our health professionals. We also highlighted the need to recognize our region as one where we don’t have the same pool of resources to draw from when it comes to health professionals due to our remoteness and limitations in the academic programs offered. Please know that we continue to be persistent with our advocacy for our Hospital, Health Research Institute and region on the need to have health human resource initiatives that are more tailored to our region. We look forward to continuing the conversation with other Ministry representatives and I’ll ensure to keep you up to date on our progress.
On the COVID-19 front, as you know, the Assessment Centre played a pivotal role in our Hospital’s response to COVID-19 and in supporting our community and region by providing clinical services for testing and treatments.
Now that we have less demand for COVID-19 testing and assessments, and decreased COVID-19 activity, we have received direction to wind down our Centre. I would like to acknowledge and thank the dedicated people who were instrumental in getting this centre up and running in the early days. As well, thank you to the teams that continued to develop new pathways to support the community along the way as the pandemic evolved. Thank you for your dedication and willingness to adapt operations throughout the pandemic. The incredible work leaves us well-positioned to revisit this model of care, should there be a need to respond to future disease needs.
Still with operational matters, the time is finally here as we all transition over from using StaffRight to using UKG Pro Workforce Management as our new scheduling system. As you can imagine, transitioning over 3,500 employees is not an easy task and I am sure we can all agree – change is not always easy. I don’t think there is anyone that has not been affected by this switch over. I would like to thank the team for the work done on this project.
I have to say it was great to see many of you throughout Employee Recognition Week. The week was geared to celebrate all of you and the great work you do to support our community health care needs. The week held many recognition events and I hope you all had opportunity to participate in some way. I recognize that we don’t always connect with everyone through the variety of giveaway events; but please know your work is making a difference and you are appreciated.
As I conclude, I would like to share a testimonial that comes straight from a patient. We get many of these each month from areas across the entire Hospital (because you are all amazing!) and I normally share these in my Board report, but I do think it’s worth repeating here for you.
As always, your feedback on these blogs or any other matter is always welcome and valued. You can reach me at: rhonda.ellacott@tbh.net.
