Toronto focus of new wave of hospital cuts

Debated in communities across Ontario, hospital cuts are finally gaining attention in Toronto. Last week Rouge Valley Health System gave notice of layoff to CUPE, OPSEU and ONA. Cuts to OPSEU included 14 positions affecting cardiac care, rehab, mental health, diagnostic imaging, and laboratory. Meanwhile Toronto East General hospital is closing its physiotherapy clinic later this year and St. Michael’s has already announced it is postponing elective surgery and reducing office cleaning to save money. In today’s Toronto Star it was reported St. Joseph’s Health Centre is closing its after-hours, pain, cardiac rehabilitation and audiology clinics as of April 1^st. A spokesperson for the Toronto Central LHIN told the newspaper “from the LHIN’s point of view, we want to make sure that hospitals and community agencies are working together to look at new ways of building services because not everything should be delivered in hospitals. Frankly, we want to see a system where there is more community-based care.” And like many LHINs before it, the LHIN neglected to point out where in the community any of these services would be transferred to. The LHINs would do well to heed to caution from a consultants report recently commissioned by the Central East CCAC that suggested the cost of some rehab services was higher when delivered in the community – that is when it is delivered at all.