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Ontario\u2019s largest health-care union is sounding the alarm on impending job cuts and increased wait times if the province fails to increase hospital funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a new report<\/a>, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) estimates more than 9,000 nursing and personal support worker positions will be cut by 2027-28 \u2014 with more than 700 of those jobs being lost in Ottawa. <\/p>\n It also projects nearly 2,400 hospital bed closures across the province.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s going to mean more people on stretchers waiting for admission to beds, and it’s going to mean the quality of health care in the hospitals is going to slip again,\u201d said OCHU president Michael Hurley.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the report, the Ford government told hospitals to expect a two per cent annual increase until 2027-28. It’s a sum that the report\u2019s author, Doug Allan, said is well below what\u2019s needed to maintain current services.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFive years ago, hospitals had $2 billion in working capital. Now they have negative working capital. You can’t run a system this way,\u201d said Allan, a senior researcher with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).<\/p>\n The union is calling on the province to address urgent short-term needs, including a backlog of surgeries and overcrowded waiting rooms, by adding 6,200 staffed beds. <\/p>\n It also wants core hospital funding to be increased by $3.2 billion to \u201cclear deficits\u201d and hire more health-care workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement to CBC, the Ontario Ministry of Health said the province has invested $91.5 billion dollars in health care this year and will continue to invest in the sector.<\/p>\n But Ontario NDP health critic France G\u00e9linas said that investment is spread across the entire sector, and hospitals aren\u2019t getting enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe know hospitals have to borrow money from banks just to be able to pay their employees,\u201d she told Radio-Canada in a French-language interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n G\u00e9linas added she fears the government is paving the way for more privatized health care in the province.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe lack of funding isn\u2019t accidental. It\u2019s because if hospitals aren\u2019t able to meet the needs of the people, the people are going to say we need something else,\u201d she said, pointing to the government\u2019s decision to transfer surgeries to private clinics across the province.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hurley also shares that concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe government is committed to a market model, and it wants to open the market of surgeries, but the consequences of doing that for individuals are that only the wealthy will actually move to have surgeries more rapidly,\u201d he said, citing a 2024 study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal<\/a> that found the rate of cataract surgery decreased in public hospitals in Ontario after public funding was expanded for surgeries performed in for-profit centres.\u00a0<\/p>\n To support the long-term health of Ontario\u2019s hospitals, the OCHU says annual funding needs to meet inflation, estimating a six per cent yearly increase is what’s required.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771104925_25_default.jpg\")
The Ottawa Hospital’s General campus is seen from a drone in 2023. In addition to the potential loss of thousands of nursing and personal support worker jobs by 2027-28, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions is also projecting nearly 2,400 hospital bed closures across the province. (F\u00e9lix Desroches\/CBC)Not accidental, says ONDP critic<\/p>\n