KHSC receives additional funding to support growth and capacity

Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) has received several significant funding boosts over the last several months, aimed at supporting growth and delivering faster care, closer to home, for patients in southeastern Ontario.

This summer KHSC has received:

• A two per cent boost in base funding totaling $8 million to account for hospital growth and inflation costs. This is part of an $850 million province-wide investment by the government to ensure all hospitals in Ontario receive a base funding increase as part of ‘A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care.’
• $3.4 million to fund additional patient care procedures, allowing KHSC to perform more hip and knee replacements, cardiac, spine, cataract and bariatric surgeries this year, as well as additional vagus nerve stimulation procedures for individuals with epilepsy. 
• $1 million to permanently expand the Pediatric Critical Care Unit (PCCU) at the KGH site by two beds bringing the capacity of the PCCU to six beds total. KHSC is one of the few hospitals in Ontario that operates a Level II PCCU facility, and during the wave of pediatric illnesses last fall KHSC played a significant role provincially in providing additional capacity to overwhelmed pediatric hospitals elsewhere in the province.
• $1 million in base funding to expand KHSC’s Critical Care Program by two additional Level 2 cardiovascular beds to support increased capacity for patients who have complex cardiac care needs. This funding brings KHSC to a total of 83 adult critical care beds, spread across its two Intensive Care Units and its Cardiac Sciences Unit. The Critical Care Program serves as a regional resource for individuals from across southeastern Ontario who require complex medical care.

QUOTES:

“Over the last few years KHSC’s role within the provincial health-care system has grown quite dramatically and I believe this funding is a reflection of the government’s support for the role we play across the entire region,” says KHSC President and CEO Dr. David Pichora. “As the largest provider of complex and specialized acute care in southeastern Ontario, funding like this allows us to ensure that more patients are receiving the highest quality of care closer to home.”

“This is good news for the people of Kingston and surrounding areas that the Kingston Health Sciences Centre serves,” said MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, John Jordan. “This funding ensures that our hospitals are up to date and capable of meeting the growing needs of the community. Upgrading and maintaining hospitals and their health care programs is one more way our government is committed to bettering the lives of Ontarians and ensuring they receive exceptional care.”