Report says patient care suffers from southwestern Ontario hospital deficits

Hospitals in southwestern Ontario are feeling the effects of underfunding, according to a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The report was presented to reporters on Wednesday morning at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre. It indicated that there is still a significant gap between hospitals' financial positions and the funding provided by the Ontario government.

Andrew Longhurst, who handled the study, said health systems in the region are trending toward deficit.

"All of the hospitals in the Erie-St. Clair region, which includes Windsor, which includes Bluewater [in Sarnia], all hospitals were in a deficit position," said Longhurst.

The study showed that emergency room wait times remain an issue provincewide and, according to Longhurst, are the "canary in the coal mine."

In fiscal year 2020-21, when Ontario was dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total time spent in emergency departments for admitted patients was 29.1 hours. In 2024-25, it was 44.4 hours.

This graph shows the rise reported in emergency room wait times in hours from 2020-21 to 2024-25, from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

"People get sick," said Longhurst. "People need health care, and the fact that we're seeing these wait times increase over the last five years, emergency departments are that window into how the health care system is performing. And right now, it's not in a good place."

For example, the data showed that emergency room wait times at Windsor Regional Hospital were up by 72 per cent over five years. At Bluewater Health in Sarnia, they were up by 43 per cent.

Longhurst said closing the gap between provincial funding and the hospital systems will go a long way toward solving the problem.

"We need to see $3.2-billion in additional funding to the hospital sector, to address the funding crisis that we're seeing," said Longhurst. "Deficits for the majority of the hospitals for the last three years are putting them in an increasingly precarious position."

This bar graph shows the share of Ontario hospitals in surplus versus deficit, from 2022-23 to 2024-25, from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The report also recommended that Queens Park develop a health care workforce strategy and capital plan, to ensure that infrastructure planning aligns with any future workforce expansion.

The CCPA is a non-partisan policy research organization. The complete report is available on its official website.