Unions predict 5,000 health-care jobs cut province-wide

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CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES - ONTARIO REGIONAL OFFICE

ONTARIO COUNCIL OF HOSPITAL UNIONS

ONTARIO PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION

************************* Hospital unions projecting 5,000 job losses, serious cutbacks to patient care if McGuinty fails to address hospital underfunding

TORONTO - (January 12) - In a joint press conference this morning, leadership from four major hospital unions representing more than 80,000 hospital staff warned of large scale job losses and downsizing in Ontario's hospitals.

In a briefing note, the unions warned that underfunding at currently planned levels translates into a cutback of 5,000 full-time jobs and more than 9 million hours of patient care.

Serious hospital cutbacks are threatened at hospitals of every size (small, medium and large) in every region of Ontario.

"Hospital downsizing is already resulting in longer waits for patients, user fees for patients, and loss of services," noted Patty Rout, vice-president and treasurer of Ontario Public Service Employees Union. "We are warning the public and the government that these cuts are hurting our communities and our patients. It is time for Premier Dalton McGuinty to take a much more serious look at the impacts of the planned underfunding and listen to the concerns that are being raised by all of the health care unions and thousands of people in communities across Ontario."

"At currently planned funding levels, we are projecting a cut of 5,000 full time jobs in the hospital sector," warned Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/ Canadian Union of Public Employees. "This translates to a cut of more than nine million hours in patient care."

"We are gravely concerned that even these levels of funding may not be met in the budget this spring, and the results would be devastating," Hurley said.

"Ontario is already staggering under the impact of the manufacturing job losses and the recession," warned Ken Lewenza, national president of the Canadian Auto Workers. "In hard economic times, workers who have lost their jobs lose health-care benefits as well, and the need for hospital services is all the more pressing. This is not the time for the provincial government to contemplate large-scale hospital cuts and restructuring."

"Already, the provincial government is attempting to push through the closure of two small and rural hospitals in Niagara," said Cathy Carroll, secretary-treasurer of Service Employees International Union Local 1 Canada. "We have not seen cuts like this since the deeply damaging Harris government restructuring in the mid-1990s."

"These closures should serve as a warning to small and rural communities across Ontario that their emergency departments, and even entire hospitals, are now at risk," Carroll said.

Briefing note

Hospital cutbacks due to underfunding of hospital global budgets: projected impacts on hospital services and the work force

This year and next, provincial budget levels for hospital global budgets are insufficient to meet hospital rates of inflation, population growth, and the effects of an aging society.

- In 2008/09 provincial budget levels for hospital global budgets increase by 2.4 percent. In 2009/10 the planned level drops to 2.1 percent. These levels are less than what hospitals require to maintain existing services.

- Approximately 50 percent of Ontario's hospitals have been in deficit this year. At the projected funding levels for hospital global budgets in 2009/10 approximately 70 percent of Ontario's hospitals will be in deficit.

At the provincial government's planned levels of funding for hospital global budgets for 2009/10, we project 5,000 job losses in Ontario's hospital sector.

This includes 4,000 jobs eliminated through attrition and 1,000 more through layoff.

This is in addition to layoffs already announced to date in 2008/09.

- Based on the plans that have been made public to date, job losses will occur across all the professions and classifications - including doctors, nurses, health professionals, support staff and administration - affecting hospitals of all sizes (small, medium and large) in every geographic region of the province.

- Layoffs announced already include reductions in the size of the workforce by more than 1,000 FTE (full-time equivalent) positions for nurses, doctors, health professionals and support staff in Hamilton, London, Ajax and Kingston alone.

Hospital downsizing at current projected levels of funding for 2009/10 will result in a cutback of more than 9 million hours of patient care.

- Each full time position in hospitals translates to between 1,820 (35 hours a week) and 1,950 hours of care (37.5 hours a week). This 'rule of thumb' is used across most classifications in hospitals. Thus, a downsizing of 5,000 hospital positions translates to a loss of between 9,100,000 hours of care up to 9,750,000 hours of patient care. Each 1,000 positions lost translates to between 1,820,000 and 1,950,000 hours of lost patient care.

Current cutbacks as a result of the planned underfunding of hospital global budgets include serious cuts to direct patient care:

- planned closure of hospitals in small and rural communities

- closure of local birthing services

- elimination of services such as physiotherapy and chiropody in some hospitals

- potential closure of emergency departments in smaller communities

- decreased hospital cleanliness and increased risk of hospital acquired infections such as C.Difficile

- increased bed occupancy, causing cancellation of surgeries, backlogged emergency rooms and increased hospital acquired infections

- privatization of patient services

- increased user fees for patients

- significant job losses and downsizing.

In December, the Ontario Health Coalition released a cross province list of hospital service cuts.

The report can be accessed at OntarioHealthCoalition.ca.

************************* Full SooToday.com coverage of this story

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