North Bay's hospital needs an additional $23 million in funding per year just to meet the Canadian average for a similar facility says Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU). (see our photo gallery)
Most other hospitals that are operating are not having to pay foreign consortiums lease-backs for expensive infrastructure which is what [North Bay] is doing. So your infrastructure costs are probably 30 percent higher than they would be because of the nature of the construction here and the ownership of the model (public-private partnership P3).
"There were three hospitals here, now there's one and it's been shrinking rapidly, 450 staff in the last five or six years and lots and lots of beds and cuts to programs, particularly mental health," he stated.
Hurley asks, "What is the plan for North Bay?"
"Is it to chop it down and send people to Sudbury? I don't know what the plan is."
While Hurley doesn't expect to see the hospital completely shut down, he's not optimistic.
"You're gonna see more bed closures, and more layoffs here, and more program cuts. And you're going to see more bafflegab from everybody about 'Don't worry, everybody will be well taken care of', despite these tremendous cuts.
"That's what they'll tell you because if they don't they'll lose their jobs.
"On top of all these other problems is the fact that you guys have a higher level of chronic illnesses than the people in southern Ontario. You've got a higher level of addictions, more single parent families, more poor families, more First Nations which are living in pretty substandard conditions with significant health problems. You've got a much larger population of people without a family doctor relying on institutions for services.
"You've got some special problems here that don't get recognized in the funding model."
Part of the blame for North Bay's woes can be blamed on a five year funding freeze by the province, said Hurley at a morning news conference.
"We're hoping that if we don't let go of this issue, the Liberals in 2016 will turn their attention to getting re-elected and we're hoping the five year spending freeze, that we can bring that to an end earlier.
"We're going to continue to have rallies and protests and other ways to bring this to public attention."
As part of a community-wide campaign to secure adequate provincial funding for the hospital, the Ontario Health Coalition has organized a “Take Back Our Hospital” demonstration on Monday at at noon at Lee Park.
CUPE’s new national president, Mark Hancock will speak at the rally.
