ER's receive funding.
The provincial government has provided funding for Scarborough' s three hospitals, including The Scarborough Hospital, General Campus (shown in photo) to improve wait times in emergency rooms.
File photo/WILLIAM MEIJER
Scarborough's hospitals are receiving money to help ease emergency room wait times.
The provincial government announced the funding for Rouge Valley Centenary and The Scarborough Hospital's two sites (Birchmount and General) on Thursday, July 29.
The $2 million in funding is part of nearly $60 million pledged across the province as part of the Pay for Results Program, which helps hospitals meet specific emergency room (ER) wait time reduction targets.
Centenary is receiving $1.1 million of the funding. David Brazeau, hospital spokesperson, said they weren't sure yet where exactly the money will go, but it is definitely needed.
"Rouge Valley really thanks the province for the funds, which will go towards reducing wait times for patients," he said.
Pay-for-Results helps hospital and its health care partners meet specific emergency room wait time reduction targets. The 71 hospitals part of the program have committed to treat more patients within the targets, aiming to improve performance by 15 per cent over the course of the year.
The Central East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), which both Rouge Valley and The Scarborough Hospital are a part of, has two strategic aims and one is to reduce the number of hours people spend in Central East LHIN emergency departments by a million hours by 2013.
"This type of funding is one way of helping to achieve that aim," said Katie Cronin-Wood, spokesperson for the Central East Local Health Integration Network.
To reach the wait time targets, the hospitals will use the funds to participate in a province wide Process Improvement Program to improve patient flow in the ER and throughout the hospital and to expand emergency department staffing and support designated areas in the ER for rapid assessments to improve patient flow.