Hospitals in Ontario, North Bay\u2019s included, are severely underfunded, and the detrimental effects of this underfunding will only increase over the years, a new report from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) explained.<\/p>\n
The report, written by Doug Allan, a senior researcher with CUPE, reveals that at the current levels of provincial funding, taxpayers will see fewer hospital staff, increased violence toward existing staff from patients, fewer bed spaces, and more gurneys in hallways as patients wait for a room.<\/p>\n
Allan warned, \u201cWe have a crisis in our hospital system right now through years of underfunding. This is going to get much, much worse if the government sticks to its funding plan for this year and for the next two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allan\u2019s full report, Driven to the Brink: Projected Cuts to Intensify Hospital Crisis, can be read here<\/a>. The report explains that the number of staffed beds in the province has declined steadily, and to return to the levels we saw 10 years ago, we would need 6,237 more than we have currently.<\/p>\n However, Allan\u2019s research explained that Ontario will lose nearly 2,400 beds by 2027-2028. CUPE estimates that the North Bay Regional Health Centre could lose about 30 staffed beds by 2027-28. Province-wide, about 9,000 nurses and personal support worker positions could be cut in that time as well, and North Bay alone could lose about 110 of those jobs, CUPE\u2019s report detailed.<\/p>\n The report also detailed that the \u201challway healthcare,\u201d where patients are treated in halls instead of rooms, has increased. CUPE noted the government vowed to eliminate hallway healthcare in 2018, but the number of patients receiving hallway care increased in that time, from 826 in June 2018 to 1,860 in 2024.<\/p>\n Now, the province has decided stop tracking the problem altogether, CUPE said.<\/p>\n Allan, armed with his latest report, has hit the road to alert the citizenry. Tuesday, he held a press conference in the board room at the North Bay Public Library, at 271 Worthington St. He was joined by Michael Hurley, president of OCHU\/CUPE, and Mike Turgeon, president of CUPE 139, which represents North Bay health care workers, 40 of whom are losing their jobs due to cuts.<\/p>\n