BARRY’S BAY, ON, April 1 /CNW/ – St. Francis Memorial Hospital in Barry’s Bay is cutting front-line care positions and closing beds in order to eliminate an operating deficit.
The hospital is eliminating seven full-time registered practical nursing positions, reducing the hours of housekeeping, maintenance, food services and recreational programming.
It is also closing seven beds, reducing overall capacity for the community. St. Francis also intends to increase revenues by introducing a fee for parking at the hospital. These cuts follow an earlier closure of a CCAC clinic adjacent to the hospital.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has been told by hospital officials that no changes will be made to the plan despite a funding increase of 1.5 per cent in the March 25th provincial budget.
The original plan was based on a funding freeze. “The province had set a target for all hospitals to have 70 per cent full-time nursing staff,” said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the 130,000-member Ontario Public Service Employees Union. “Now St. Francis has precisely zero full-time RPNs on staff. Instead they will be replaced by less qualified personal support workers. It seems like every government priority from the past six years is going out the window in the name of budget cutting.”
The union is concerned that most of its membership at the hospital is now working on a part-time basis. OPSEU says that this may be just the start – the government has indicated in its throne speech that it intends to further restructure health care, bringing in changes that will disadvantage small and rural hospitals like St. Francis.
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Where small and rural hospitals fit within a new funding formula and introduction of competitions is not yet clear. When these issues were raised in the Throne Speech, there was widespread concern about small and rural hospitals having to compete with larger urban hospitals for the right to perform certain procedures. This concern was echoed by the Ontario Hospital Association. However, the Ministry has since indicated to us that rural hospitals will not have to compete. While this is some relief, we will be watching and engaging the government with regards to the details of any new funding formula and its impact on the hospital sector.
OPSEU Diablogue 
Please remind me not to go to this hospital or to take my family members there when I am at the cottage over the summer. Please remind me to keep myself and my family safe so I do not have to encounter this gap in emergency medical services. Wow. How sad and pathetic. What about cutting the fat from the hospital administrators who are generally overpaid and contribute very little to the overall fabric of health care delivery.