Ontario Premier Doug Ford is announcing that the province will be spending an additional $330 million each year on pediatric health services.
The government says it will allow children’s hospitals to significantly increase staffing and provide more services.
The funding is set to go toward more than 100 initiatives, including increasing the number of day surgeries performed, rapid access clinics that will help people avoid the ER during respiratory virus season, reducing wait times for mental health services and an immunization catch-up program.
It will also go toward reducing wait times for children’s rehabilitation services, such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language services.
Ford says the money is targeted to “high-impact initiatives” that can be implemented quickly to reduce wait lists and connect kids to care when they need it.
Alex Munter, the CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, says the announcement represents the biggest expansion of pediatric health care in the province’s history and will help for many years to come.
