Ontario Announced Its New Health Care Plan & Here's How You Can Get A 'Better' Experience
The Ontario government unveiled its new health care plan on Thursday, which aims to offer a "better" experience for patients by connecting them to accessible options near their homes and reducing wait times for essential services throughout the province.
The province's plan is laid out via three main pillars: "The Right Care in the Right Place," "Faster Access to Care" and "Hiring More Health Care Workers," which it claims will provide "convenient" care in emergency rooms, community centres, doctors' offices, long-term care homes and in-home care.
"Our health care system and our health care workers are under incredible pressure, and for too many people, health care is too hard to access. The status quo is not working. Ontarians deserve to be able to get care where and when they need it," Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, said during a press conference on Thursday.
"This means more hospital and long-term care beds in our communities; more diagnostic testing, like MRIs and CT scans, closer to home; and more skilled health care workers available to provide care," she added.
The Ministry of Health also aims to speed up access to publicly funded surgeries and procedures by investing over $18 million into community surgical and diagnostic centres.
It claims this move will help "eliminate surgical backlogs" and cut wait times, providing "thousands of patients" with care including 49,000 hours of MRI and CT scans and nearly 10,000 surgeries, including cataract and other eye surgeries, gynecological surgeries and plastic surgeries.
The government also hopes to reduce wait lists for long-term care and improve senior assistance by constructing nearly 60,000 new and upgraded hospital beds.
The ministry also plans to continue to undertake what it says is "the largest medical school education expansion" in the province's history by increasing the number of undergraduate seats by 160 and postgraduate positions by 295 over the next five years.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
Yonge North Subway Extension map drawn up in 2021.