Media Advisory - One year later; are Kitchener hospital patients faring better under Ford PCs? New report released Wednesday

KITCHENER, ON, July 9, 2019 /CNW/ - When the Doug Ford Progressive Conservatives (PCs) took office last summer, they made vague promises about ending hallway medicine, increasing system capacity and no public sector staff layoffs, while cutting government spending on services. Now, one year later, have the PCs delivered? How they are really doing to enhance patients' access to care is the focus of 'Protecting What Matters Most,' a new report by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), being released on Wednesday, July 10 (1:00 p.m.) at Kitchener Public Library ? Boardroom, 85 Queen Street North, Kitchener.

'Protecting What Matters Most' looks at health ministry spending restraint outlined in the 2019 budget while factoring inflation, population and aging growth cost pressures, then projecting how many hospital staff and beds would be cut. The report includes Kitchener-specific bed and staffing cut projections.

For hospital services, real funding cuts planned by the PC government for the next few years are, in fact, "well beyond early forecasts and especially alarming given we are overwhelmed today with a serious lack of hospital capacity," says OCHU/CUPE president Michael Hurley. "The Progressive Conservatives are on track to deliver a patient access crisis, all the while using a massive health system restructuring to divert attention from the cuts coming to staff, beds and hospital capacity."

Instead of "protecting what matter's most," the PC plans mean that hospitals are being especially targeted.

SOURCE Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)