Health-care cuts are unacceptable, says Ontario Conservative Leader Patrick Brown
http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/healthcare-cuts-are-unacceptable-says-ontario-conservative-leader-patrick-brown Sharon Hill, Windsor Star
Published on: April 9, 2016 | Last Updated: April 10, 2016 5:54 PM EDT
Health cuts, such as chopping the number of registered nurses in
hospitals, are unacceptable and will hurt local health care, Ontario
Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said Saturday in Windsor.
“The reality is they are cutting $20 million from a hospital that
can’t afford any more cuts and to say that you can find $20 million in
efficiencies is political talk. It’s spin. They are gutting $20 million
from a hospital that can’t afford it,” Brown said Saturday after meeting
at a downtown hotel with a handful of representatives from the Windsor
chapter of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.
Association representatives met with Brown and Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP
Rick Nicholls Saturday afternoon. Windsor Regional Hospital announced
in January
it was cutting about 120 nurses and replacing 80 registered nurses with
registered practical nurses as it tried to deal with a $20-million
budget shortfall. Last week the budget shortfall was expected to be about $17 million for
2015-16 and was blamed on losing about $20 million in operational
funding from the Ministry of Health over the last few years.
“I want to push back on behalf of the people of Windsor to say that
(Ontario Premier) Kathleen Wynne’s health cuts are unacceptable,” Brown
told reporters. “She never campaigned two years ago on cutting hospitals
and cutting nurses and taking money out of patient care with
physicians.”
Ontario Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, right, is joined by
Chatham-Kent Essex MPP Rick Nicholls and representatives of the
Windsor-Essex chapter of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario at
the Best Western in downtown Windsor, Saturday, April 9, 2016.Dax Melmer /
Windsor Star
The 120 positions lost at Windsor Regional Hospital are a red flag,
he said. The cuts are short-sighted and will end up costing the
health-care system more down the road, he said.
“There’s going to be diminishment of health care here.”
Dana Boyd, president of the Windsor Essex chapter of the Registered
Nurses’ Association of Ontario, said the association has asked for a
moratorium across the province to stop registered nurses from being
replaced with registered practical nurses who have less training. An
online petition at the association’s website (rnao.ca) has collected about 14,000 signatures, she said.
“We want decisions based on the patient. We don’t want decisions based on a budget,” Boyd said.
Registered nurses complete four years of university and many have a
master’s degree, she said. Registered practical nurses have a two-year
college diploma and are expected to take care of people who are stable.
The problem the association sees is that patients in hospitals often
have complex health issues and need to be cared for by an RN. If
patients are stable enough to be cared for by an RPN, they are often
discharged from the hospital.
Boyd said there are places for registered nurses, registered
practical nurses and nurse practitioners in the system, but there needs
to be a plan that puts patients first.
Brown said he’s tired of the Liberal government’s Band-Aid solutions.
“I’m tired of these shortcuts,” he said. “Whether it’s replacing RNs
with RPNs, whether it’s switching nurses from full-time to part-time,
whether it’s not using an operating room, not using MRI machines, I’m
sick and tired of short-term solutions that are damaging access to
health care that we cherish in Ontario.” shill@postmedia.com twitter.com/winstarhill
