Patrick Brown Stands with Windsor Nurses and Protests Cuts to Health Care

WINDSOR – Today on a visit to Windsor, Leader of the Official Opposition Patrick Brown and MPP Rick Nicholls (Chatham-Kent-Essex) met with area nurses to discuss proposed cuts to the Windsor Regional Hospital.

WINDSOR – Today on a visit to Windsor, Leader of the Official Opposition Patrick Brown and MPP Rick Nicholls (Chatham-Kent-Essex) met with area nurses to discuss proposed cuts to the Windsor Regional Hospital.

“I came down to Windsor to hear first-hand how Premier Kathleen Wynne’s health care cuts are affecting the quality of patient care the people of Windsor receive,” said Brown. “It’s the physicians and nurses who are best able to explain how cuts impact the communities they service. I look forward to taking the stories I heard here today back to Minister Eric Hoskins and Premier Wynne at Queen’s Park.”

Windsor Regional Hospital is currently facing a $20-million budget shortfall, and as a result the hospital is being forced to eliminate 86 full-time equivalent jobs. In an additional cost-saving measure, the hospital is eliminating 80 registered nurses (RNs) and replacing them with 80 registered practical nurses (RPNs). Overall, the hospital is eliminating 120 nursing jobs.

Windsor Regional Hospital is currently facing a $20-million budget shortfall, and as a result the hospital is being forced to eliminate 86 full-time equivalent jobs throughout the hospital’s two campuses. In addition, the hospital is also firing 80 registered nurses (RNs) and replacing them with 80 lower-paid registered practical nurses (RPNs). In total, 120 nursing jobs are being eliminated at the hospital.

“When you take $20-million out of a hospital, it is going to affect the quality of care. It’s going to mean critical services are unavailable and it means an increased workload for dedicated health care workers,” added Brown. “For the government to say that you will be able to find $20-million in efficiencies is nothing more than political spin. Plain and simple, the Liberals are gutting $20-million from a hospital that cannot afford it.”

Ontario hospitals have faced four years of frozen budgets under the Liberal Government, and the most recent budget included only a negligible increase in funding. Budget 2016 provides a 1 per cent base funding increase; however it also reduces gaming revenue for the operation of hospitals by $107-million.

“If frontline health care workers push-back, the Government will listen. The Wynne Liberals needs to reverse this $20-million cut to Windsor Regional Hospital.”