The provincial government is giving Southlake Health $20 million to support existing hospital beds and increase base funding to the Newmarket hospital.
Dignitaries gathered at a new clinic space at the hospital for the funding announcement today. About $9.4 million will support the operation of 61 existing mental health and transitional care beds in the hospital. Another $11.6 million will go to increase the more than $600 million Southlake gets in annualized base funding from the province, while a $1.6 million one-time grant will address financial pressure for the hospital.
Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy made the announcement and said the provincial government has heard the concerns shared by the local hospital.
“We have a shared goal and that is to ensure Southlake has the resources to meet the evolving needs of our community,” Gallagher Murphy said.
The funding comes as Southlake continues to navigate spatial challenges at its existing primary site in Newmarket. In a news release, the province said Southlake is serving one of the fastest-growing areas in the province and the base funding increase can help it keep up.
Southlake Health chief executive officer Paul Woods said the hospital is looking for new spaces, noting the news conference was happening at a new clinic space that is about to open after replacing a previous space used by human resources.
“Today's announcement will help us continue to have a positive impact on our communities,” he said, adding the funding is timely with Southlake’s new strategy to build a distributed health network working in different spaces. “We continue to scale up our operations to seamlessly bring care closer to home … We are confident we can deliver on this vision.”
Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the government wants to ensure convenient care.
“This investment builds on our work to enhance capacity in our hospitals and will provide communities with the beds they need,” she said in a news release.
The funding dedicated to Southlake’s hospital bed operations is part of the $257 million the government recently earmarked to support the continued operation of more than 3,500 care beds across Ontario.
Gallagher Murphy acknowledged the upcoming provincial election that is expected to be announced later this week and said she would keep working for Southlake.
“My advocacy continues on every single day for what Southlake needs, for what our community needs right here,” she said.