Ontario’s biggest health-care union is raising concerns about possible job losses and longer wait times if the province doesn’t boost hospital funding.
A recent report from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) predicts that over 9,000 nursing and personal support worker roles will be eliminated by 2027-28 – with more than 700 of those positions disappearing in Ottawa.
The report also forecasts nearly 2,400 hospital bed closures throughout the province.
“It’s going to mean more people on stretchers waiting for admission to beds, and it’s going to mean the quality of health care in the hospitals is going to slip again,” said OCHU president Michael Hurley.
The report indicates that the Ford government has informed hospitals to anticipate a two percent annual increase until 2027-28. According to Doug Allan, who authored the report, this amount is far too low to sustain current services.
“Five years ago, hospitals had $2 billion in working capital. Now they have negative working capital. You can’t run a system this way,” said Allan, a senior researcher with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
The union urges the province to tackle immediate issues, such as surgical backlogs and overcrowded emergency rooms, by adding 6,200 staffed beds.
They’re also calling for core hospital funding to increase by $3.2 billion to “clear deficits” and recruit more healthcare workers.
In a statement given to CBC, the Ontario Ministry of Health claimed that this year alone the province has invested $91.5 billion in healthcare and will keep investing in the sector.
The Ottawa Hospital’s General campus is seen from a drone in 2023. In addition to the potential loss of thousands of nursing and personal support worker jobs by 2027-28, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions is also projecting nearly 2,400 hospital bed closures across the province. (Félix Desroches/CBC)
Hurley also urges Premier Ford’s administration make good on its promise from 2018 regarding eliminating hallway medicine throughout Ontario.
“To do that,” Hurley stated,” they need fund hospitals at their real cost.”
Source link
Not accidental, says ONDP critic
However, Ontario NDP health critic France Gélinas stated that this investment gets spread thin across all areas, meaning hospitals aren’t receiving enough support. “We know hospitals have to borrow money from banks just to be able to pay their employees,” she told Radio-Canada in a French-language interview. Gélinas expressed concern that this situation may lead towards increased privatization within Ontario’s healthcare system. “The lack of funding isn’t accidental. It’s because if hospitals aren’t able to meet the needs of the people, the people are going to say we need something else,” she noted while highlighting how surgeries are being shifted over to private clinics statewide. Hurley shares similar worries regarding these developments. “The government is committed to a market model, and it wants to open up surgery markets; however, what that means for individuals is that only those who can afford it will actually get surgeries done faster,” he remarked. He referenced a study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal showing how public cataract surgery rates declined after more funding was allocated for procedures done at for-profit centers in Ontario. The OCHU argues that for long-term viability within Ontario’s hospitals annual funding must keep pace with inflation-estimating an increase of six percent each year as necessary.Hurley also urges Premier Ford’s administration make good on its promise from 2018 regarding eliminating hallway medicine throughout Ontario.
“To do that,” Hurley stated,” they need fund hospitals at their real cost.”
Source link
