TORONTO -- Health Minister Eric Hoskins says the province is considering re-opening a shuttered Toronto hospital site to relieve a bed shortage.
Hoskins says the ministry may re-open the Humber River Hospital's Finch site which was closed last year to move the operations to a new facility a few kilometres away.
The plan, which he says is in the early stages, could create 150 hospital beds to help address crowding.
Hoskins did not say how much the plan to re-open the site would cost but said the province had set aside $24 million in its 2017 budget to provide additional supports for seniors in hospital.
The facility would be used to care for so-called alternate level of care patients, many of whom are waiting in hospital for a bed in a long-term care facility.
Hoskins said he has asked hospitals and local health officials across Ontario to come up with plans to alleviate bed shortages in their communities and hopes to have those in the coming months
