FAO: IT'LL TAKE ABOUT 3 1/2-YRS TO CLEAR SURGICAL BACKLOG CAUSED BY PANDEMIC

May 10, 2021

By Bob Komsic

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The Financial Accountability Office estimates the backlog of cancelled surgeries will exceed 419,000 by the end of September.
Ontario’s fiscal watchdog also believes it’ll cost the province $1.3-billion to clear it, pointing out the Ford government allocated $610-million in its latest budget to address the issue.
The FAO is basing its projections on eliminating the backlog on assumptions hospitals will be able to operate at 11% above pre-pandemic volumes in the coming years.
Overall, the watchdog says the province will have a spending shortfall of nearly $62-billion in healthcare over the next nine years.
If it intends to reach its health sector spending targets, then the FAO says the province will have to introduce new spending restraint measures.
Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath is urging the government to come up with a plan to quickly get patients the surgeries and diagnostic procedures that have been delayed, and to fund the plan now.
(Steve Russell / Toronto Star)
”Doug Ford is allocating less than half the funding needed to clear the surgical backlog, leaving thousands upon thousands of people to suffer longer and deeper,” Howarth’s statement reads.
”The pain and anxiety they’re feeling is horrific.”
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