Far from ending hallway medicine, Pembroke stands to lose 10 more hospital beds, more than 55 staff under Ford programs

PEMBROKE, ON, Sept. 10, 2018 /CNW/ - Already funded and staffed at levels well below other provinces, Ontario's hospitals' hallway medicine and bed crisis will deepen under Premier Doug Ford's public service "efficiency" program and promised tax cuts, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) warned today in Pembroke.

OCHU, the hospital division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (OCHU/CUPE), has crunched the numbers on three key Ford proposals and their impact on many community hospitals across the province including Pembroke's hospital.

According to OCHU's report, Hallway Medicine:  It Can Be Fixed, which looked at the implications of Ford's promised $7 billion tax plan, balanced budget commitment and a 4 per cent public service "efficiency" program, Pembroke's hospital would see a loss of 5 to 10 more beds and between 25 and 56 jobs.

"We can end hallway medicine by making investments to meet the needs of an aging and growing population. These additional investments are not permanent, but they are needed for the life of the baby boom generation. Pembroke's hospital, already dealing with overcapacity and years of underfunding, will not be able to maintain the quality of patient care in the face of demographic pressures without these investments," says OCHU President Michael Hurley.

During this spring's election campaign, the Conservatives promised to end "hallway medicine" and committed that there would be no public-sector layoffs. However, adding up the revenue and spending cuts, across Ontario, 3,712 hospital beds and 16,418 hospital jobs could be cut to meet the target of a balanced budget.

Ontario patients, forced to spend days in hallways on gurneys and sent home while still acutely ill, are symptoms of ongoing hospital budget cuts and the elimination of 18,000 beds. Hospitals have been funded below their real costs for over a decade and their capacity has collapsed as a result.

Last week in her first comments about hospital overcrowding, Ontario's health minister Christine Elliott made comments "that are extremely worrisome," says Hurley.

Ontario hospitals get less provincial funding than anywhere else in Canada. "They are the most efficient. It is unfortunate that what we heard from the health minister is lightly disguised code signalling more cuts to hospitals, privatization, and yet another round of hospital restructuring that will force patients to travel further for care. Our population is growing and aging, and we have lived through such plans before. They didn't 'transform' care, they cut care, and that's what they'll do this time too," Hurley says.

The OCHU/CUPE research makes several recommendations for ending hallway medicine including, funding hospitals at their actual costs; opening acute, complex continuing care and long-term care beds to deal with overcrowding; investing in mental health and addictions; and stepping away from restructuring and privatization.

"There is more than enough evidence in Ontario that hospital restructuring and privatization has wasted billions of scarce dollars over the last decade," says Hurley.

SOURCE Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)