THUNDER BAY – A union leader in the health-care field is concerned the newly elected Progressive Conservative government is going to struggle to balance its promise to drastically cut spending, while finding a solution to end hallway medicine in Ontario hospitals.
Michael Hurley says the province is lagging behind others jurisdictions already when it comes to per capita spending on hospital visits, and with an aging Baby Boomer population, now isn’t the time for drastic cuts.
He fears Premier Doug Ford’s promised balanced budget commitment, together with a plan to cut $7 billion from the income tax rolls and a four per cent public service efficiency program could lead to the loss of 71 more hospital beds in Thunder Bay, as well as 190 staff, despite Ford's promise to end hallway medicine.
That’s only going to make the problem worse, said Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.
Restructuring and privatization plans have not only not worked, they’ve added billions to hospital costs across the province.
Another solution is needed, Hurley said.
“In terms of what needs to be done, these hospitals in the Thunder Bay area need to be funded at their real costs,” he said. “They’ve been suffering budget cuts for the last 10 years, in real terms, against inflation.
“They just don’t have the beds or the staff to meet the needs of the population.”
If it’s a fiscal choice between cutting taxes or provide services that’s a moral choice for society, Hurley said.
“The people bearing the brunt of these cuts are actually the elderly. So this is a decision really to turn our backs on a generation, and not only for today, but to turn our backs until 2041 and beyond,” Hurley said.
“We’d urge the government to reconsider what the previous government did, which is cutting corporate taxes to the lowest level in any jurisdiction in North America and consider nudging them up slightly so that there would be some room to fund these hospitals here at their real costs – and to add the supports of long-term care in the community that are really needed.”
Hurley said OCHU fears up to 3,712 hospital beds and 16,418 hospital jobs could be on the chopping block, though Ford, during the election, said not one public-sector job would be cut in his attempt to balance the Ontario budget.
Since the election, Ford, who is undertaking a line-by-line audit of Ontario's books, has not indicated he’s changed his mind on this front.
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre president and CEO Jean Bartkowiak said he’s been given no indication cuts are coming.
"At this time, I am not aware of any reduction in operational funding to our hospital. I look forward to working with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to ensure the continued delivery of safe, quality patient and family-centred care for the people of Northwestern Ontario,” he said in a statement issued on Wednesday by the hospital.
