The CEO of the South Bruce Grey Health Centre calls new statistics on hospital deficits in Ontario “worriesome”.
Figures show there is a 154 million dollar shortfall and that more than a third couldn’t balance their books last year.
Paul Davies is looking at the situation, with balanced books at SBGHC’s small level hospitals.
Davies says it’s the community level hospitals – like those within the Grey Bruce Health Services that are struggling to stay out of the red.
He says it’s easier for a smaller hospital to balance a budget for a few reasons.
For example, because community care access centres allow patients to go home sooner and in-patient surgery is rare – hospital services are not being tied up.
Davies also says community level hospitals are seeing their business increase far faster than inflation, while small level hospitals are not.
Sixty one of the province’s 159 public hospitals (38 per cent) were in deficit at the end of March.
Davies says that’s scary – given the fact that hospitals are the “stop gap to the health care system”.