

Chris Fox, CP24.com





The province has announced that 31 news beds will be added to Brampton Civic Hospital in the coming weeks, in addition to six beds that were previously announced.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins made the announcement at the hospital on Thursday morning.

The news comes nine days after the release of an internal memo which revealed that a total of 4,352 patients had to be treated in the hallways of the hospital between April, 2016 and April, 2017.

The memo, written by the interim president and CEO of the William Osler Health in July, said that some of those patients remained on beds in the hallway for upwards of 70 hours due to a lack of available rooms.

“Brampton is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada if not North America. That growth creates a lot of opportunities for Brampton and for Ontarians but to realize those opportunities people need to be able to access the services that they need on a daily basis,” Hoskins said. “You need to have access to the right healthcare located close to home. That might be something as simple as an appointment with your doctor or nurse practitioner but often it may be more serious and require a visit to your local hospital.”

Hoskins says that the new beds at Brampton Civic Hospital will be up in running in a “matter of weeks.”

The 37 new beds include six that were previously announced as part of a provincial plan to add 1,200 beds to hospitals across Ontario.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath previously criticized the Liberal government for thinking that six beds would solve “a crisis” that is impacting thousands of patients that are being treated in the hallways of the hospital.

Hoskins, however, contended on Thursday that his government has always “made investing in healthcare in Brampton a priority.

“We know that with a growing population you have growing needs,” he said.

In addition to the new beds for Brampton Civic Hospital, Hoskins also announced that the province will fund phase two of the redevelopment of Peel Memorial Hospital on Thursday. He said the expansion will “significantly increase patient capacity” and will include “well over 100 new beds.”