The Ontario government is increasing the funding it is providing to four Ottawa hospitals by over $19 million in 2016-17 in an effort to give residents of the region better and faster access to care.

Premier Kathleen Wynne and Dr. Eric Hoskins, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, were at Ottawa’s Hôpital Monfort to announce the expanded support, which will be distributed to Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, which will receive over $5 million; over $1.7 million will go to Hôpital Monfort; the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group will receive over $1.8 million; and The Ottawa Hospital will receive over $11 million.

“With this new and important funding, we are working to ensure that patients in Ottawa have faster access to the right care, now and in the future,” said Dr. Hoskins in a press release. “Making these necessary investments in our health care system is part of our commitment to put patients first by ensuring they get the high-quality health care they need – when they need it.”

Ontario plans to increase hospital funding province-wide by more than $345 million this year. This is part of a total investment of $51.8 billion in health care this year, $1 billion more than what was provided in 2015. Ontario also plans to invest $12 billion over 10 years in capital grants to hospitals in order to build modern infrastructure.

Currently, there are about 35 major hospital projects in progress across the province.