Joining with councils in a number of other high-growth communities, Dufferin County council has unanimously endorsed a resolution calling on the Ontario Government to improve local access to hospital and community health care services by addressing the growing gap in health-care funding facing residents in Dufferin County.

"We believe that fair funding is needed to improve access to local health care services," said Warden John Oosterhof.

"Our community depends on our local hospital. That is why we fully support the need for further funding to meet the very real and growing needs of our residents."

Currently, Ontario's hospitals are not funded on the basis of population size and the needs of the local residents.

As a result, there are significant and growing gaps in per-capita funding for hospital services in high-growth regions like Dufferin and Caledon.

The per-capita funding for hospital care in the Central West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is $280 lower than the provincial average. This means residents may wait longer for hospital care or have to bypass their local hospital and seek care outside their communities away from the support of family and friends.

"With Dufferin and Caledon's population growing at the rate they are today, we are facing the same pressures as other fast-growing communities," said John McDermid, chair, Headwaters Health Care Centre. "Population-based funding will allow us to meet the needs of our community as we continue to grow."

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care currently funds hospitals on an across-the-board basis, with funding increases evenly distributed.

In contrast, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan use a population needs or populationbased funding allocation formula to fund their regionalized health systems. There, funding is allocated based on population size and demographics.

"Considering that the residents of Dufferin County contribute more than $10.1 million annually through the health care tax, it would be good to see some of that money come back to Dufferin residents," said Warden Oosterhof.

The resolution passed by Dufferin County last Thursday, states:

WHEREAS local access to health care services is a priority for the more than 50,000 residents living in Dufferin County and key to maintaining vibrant, viable and healthy communities in Dufferin County;

AND WHEREAS the municipalities in Dufferin County continue to experience rapid population growth at rates significantly higher than the average provincial population growth rate;

AND WHEREAS the funding gap for hospital services in the Central West LHIN in which Dufferin County is located is noted as being $280 less than the provincial average on a per capita funding basis for 2005/2006;

AND WHEREAS, using Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) boundaries, the per capita funding gap for Central West LHIN which Dufferin County is located, is $199 million for 2006/2007;

AND WHEREAS Dufferin County residents continue to pay monies to the Ontario Government each year though the Provincial Health Care Tax meaning that the Ontario Government has the resources to invest in Dufferin County's residents' health care services;

AND WHEREAS the Government of Ontario's Places to Grow plan speaks to building "complete communities" in Ontario's high growth regions that will be "supported by modern, well maintained infrastructure built in accordance with a broad plan for growth ... [with] residents having easy access to shelter, food, education and health care facilities...";

AND WHEREAS it will take several years to complete existing hospital projects ongoing in Brampton and gain approval and complete construction on expansions to Headwaters Health Care Centre to build the capacity to improve local access to hospital care in Dufferin County;

THEREFORE be it resolved that the Council of the County of Dufferin call on the Government of Ontario to:

a) Follow through on their commitment to provide Growth Funding for Ontario hospitals and ensure that the growth funding is both adequate in size and is targeted to hospitals in high growth regions such as the GTA/905;

b) Provide "catch up funding" that will close the current funding gap and provide funding in Dufferin County that is equitable with communities across the province;

c) Reinstate development charges for the building of hospitals;

d) Develop a "Health Care Strategy for Ontario's High Growth Region" using the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliances' report, Places for Care as a starting point; and

e) Approve the capital development projects for Headwaters Health Care Centre.