The Ontario government is spending $5 million to help redevelop Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, but some say that money would be better put toward addressing staffing shortages.

Health minister Christine Elliott made the funding announcement at Grand River Hospital on Thursday.

“Located in one of the fastest growing areas of Ontario, it’s critical that both hospitals grow to meet the needs of the communities they serve,” Elliott said.

The money will go to a variety of redevelopment efforts that will add new beds and expand programs and services at the hospitals like cancer care, cardiac care and surgical and medical imaging.

It will also be used to start exploring a potential new hospital in Waterloo region.

“If you’ve walked through St. Mary’s or Grand River you know they are old hospitals,” said Marion Thomson Howell, St. Mary’s General Hospital Board of Trustees Chair. “They don’t meet the needs of current care, so this planning grant is going to allow us to take the first step toward getting something the community needs.”

‘BEDS ARE ESSENTIALLY JUST FURNITURE’

But some feel funding more beds, and not more doctors and nurses, is putting the carriage before the horse.

“They fund beds which are essentially just furniture,” said Erin Ariss, regional vice-president of the Ontario Nurses Association. “Without RNs, there’s no one there to provide the care.”

According to the union, the province is currently short between 20,000 and 30,000 nurses, putting patient care in jeopardy.

“If the most experienced nurse is assigned more patients than they normally would be because they’re so short, it does pose a risk and it’s not good for patient care,” said Ariss.

Asked about staffing concerns on Thursday, Elliott said the province has brought in over 8,000 new healthcare workers since the start of the pandemic and has fast tracked getting new nurses into hospitals.

“We've also worked with the College of Nurses to allow for nurses who may have been trained in other jurisdictions, who may not have their qualifications in Ontario yet, to be able to work alongside our registered nurses in our hospitals so they can get the experience they need in order to become fully qualified and practice in Ontario,” Elliott said.

The ONA says rather than just recruitment, the province should worry about employee retention.

“You need to have experienced nurses and healthcare professionals to guide them, to show them the way,” said Ariss. “And without retention that is just not possible.”

Ariss said scrapping Bill 124 – legislation she said limits pay to nurses – is an easy first step to keep nurses in the hospital.

“We need to see some respect for our profession,” she said. “They have implemented oppressive legislation such as Bill 124 that is not doing much to keep nurses at the bedside.”

St Mary’s General Hospital currently has around 180 unfilled staff positions – that includes all jobs, not just doctors and nurses.

At Grand River Hospital there are 446 unfilled positions.