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STRATFORD, Ont. Hospital workers from 4 locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), representing 2000 hospital staff, are meeting in Stratford today to plan how to press the provincial government to honour its health care funding commitments.
The McGuinty government must honour its funding commitments to health care, said Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU), in Stratford today to meet with hospital workers. Freezing hospital funding would kill 9000 Ontario health care jobs, 5000 of them through lay-off, degrading patient care across the province in a system where half of Ontario hospitals are already facing deficits.
Health care in Stratford is threatened by the McGuinty government’s chronic underfunding, Hurley said. The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance is facing a deficit of around $1 million in 2009 and faces possible closures of emergency rooms (ERs).
Hurley pointed out that the South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is studying emergency rooms (ERs) in the region.
This should raise concern, Hurley said. Already, ERs in Hamilton, Port Colborne, Fort Erie, Leamington, Wallaceburg and Petrolia have been closed or cut back. The future of Huron Perth ERs is not clear.
Hurley noted that even if the province keeps its promise of a 2.1 per cent funding increase, there will still be deep cuts because the rate of inflation for hospitals is 3.5 per cent. With a 2.1 per cent funding increase still 1.4 per cent below inflation Ontario hospitals would leave up to 4000 positions unfilled and up to 1000 hospital employees would be laid off.
Hurley said that recent studies by the think-tank Informetrica found that $1 billion invested in health care creates 18,100 jobs. The same billion dollars invested in infrastructure creates 12,500 jobs.
Investing in health care makes good economic sense, Hurley said. The McGuinty government can protect health care in Stratford and area and strengthen its local economy by providing adequate funding and refusing to close departments and cut services.
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Contact:
Michael Hurley, President, OCHU/CUPE, cell: 416.884.0770
David Robbins, CUPE Communications, cell: 613.878.1431
